Samsung Canada announced the winners of its annual Solve for Tomorrow Challenge, a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-based education initiative. This year, Bernice MacNaughton High School (Moncton, NB), Thornlea Secondary School (Thornhill, ON), Meadows West School (Winnipeg, MB) and Westwood Community High School (Fort McMurray, AB) will each receive $20,000 in Samsung technology as a result of their creative and collaborative STEM solutions to real-world issues facing their communities.

“I am so inspired by all the students who participated in this year’s challenge,” said Natalie Panek, Solve for Tomorrow Ambassador, and Canadian rocket-scientist, Forbes ’30 Under 30′ and member of a Canadian contingent working on the European Space Agency’s ExoMars rover. “Their passion for STEM and creating positive community change shone through in their impressive, creative project entries. Congratulations to every student who participated in the Solve for Tomorrow Challenge.”

The four finalists were the highest scoring projects from 50 regional finalists announced in April 2018, with each of the 50 regional finalists having received a Samsung Gear VR headset, Galaxy Tab A tablet, Galaxy S8 smartphone, and Gear 360 camera to assist them in the last phase of the Challenge. Using Samsung technology, each school was tasked with creating a short video demonstrating the implementation of their unique, STEM-based community solution, to be reviewed by a panel of Samsung Solve for Tomorrow judges.

The four regional winning STEM solutions are:

Western Region– Westwood Community High School (Fort McMurray, AB)

• Highlighting an opportunity to increase community awareness around energy technology, students engineered weekly STEM workshops to engage students in Grades 4 through 9 in a hands-on learning environment.

Central Region– Meadows West School (Winnipeg, MB)

• Students launched an awareness campaign to demonstrate dangerous traffic violations in their school zone, inviting parents to experience these violations through the eyes of a young student using virtual reality.

Eastern Region– Thornlea Secondary School (Thornhill, ON)

• With bees identified as endangered, students designed an auto-pollination system that will act as a contingency plan to support plants that are dependent on bees and other natural pollinators.

Atlantic Region– Bernice MacNaughton High School (Moncton, NB)

• Students identified a need for increased healthy food options for their school community, constructing an aquaponic garden system to grow a steady supply of fruits and vegetables for students, by students.

Related:

Samsung Canada Calls on Students With Its ‘Solve for Tomorrow Challenge’

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