Samsung Selects Solve for Tomorrow State Winners
Samsung
Electronics has selected the 51 state
winners of its sixth annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest.
The teams will
share $2 million worth of Samsung equipment as they prepare for the
next round
of the year-long competition.
The
51 schools, chosen from 4,100 entries, will
each receive a Samsung Galaxy camera, ATIV Book 9 laptop and Adobe Elements software. They will be expected to use the equipment to create 2-minute
videos
about their projects that address the contest's challenge: Show how
STEM
(science, technology, engineering and math) can help improve your
community.
Judges
will review the videos and select 15
national finalists, who will receive $40,000 for their schools and the
opportunity to present their projects to a live panel of judges in
March. At
that point, five national winners will receive $120,000 for their
schools.
Three of the five final winners will be selected by a panel of judges,
one by
Samsung employees and one by online voters.
"We
couldn't be more excited about this year's
state winners," said Ann Woo, who directs corporate citizenship for
Samsung
America. "The breadth of projects range from eliminating pedestrian
fatalities
in urban areas to designing a mobile shelter to keep the traditions of
a
community with a nomadic heritage alive, and everything in between."
The
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest was
founded in 2010 as part of the company's nationwide initiative to boost
enthusiasm in STEM topics among K-12 students.
The
leader of one of last year's national winning teams,
Tom Larsen of Galena High School in Reno, NV, said, "I couldn't have
imagined
the impact this would have on me personally, my students, our program,
school
and community. This was a school year none of us will ever forget."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.