By Mrs. Emily Bell, Technology Teacher and Head Teacher, Roosevelt STEM School
Five Roosevelt STEM seventh graders, Damra Rivera, Altagracia Pena-Perez, Syla Almero, Claire Ingram, and William Snyder, have been named one of the 300 state finalists in the 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, receiving a $2,500 prize package.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a national competition designed to empower students in grades 6-12 to leverage the power of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities. The competition empowers public middle and high school students to catalyze change by applying problem-based learning (PBL) principles, environmental stewardship, and entrepreneurship to address some of society’s most pressing challenges. Roosevelt students participating in this year’s competition have boldly entered their game-changing ideas to tackle the climate crisis; accessibility; mental health matters like student anxiety and loneliness; food insecurity; cybersecurity; aid for the unhoused and migrants; and more.
Teachers and students at each of the state finalist schools will now be asked to submit an activity plan, detailing how their proposed STEM solution will address the identified community issue. This group is hard at work putting together their plan and hopes to be one of the 50 state winners, or even better, one of the 10 national finalist schools. This is an amazing opportunity for these students, and they have already worked hard for this honor.
