Teachers of grades 6-12 in the United States are invited to apply for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest. This contest challenges public school students in grades 6-12 to address a local community issue using their STEAM skills (science, technology, engineering arts, and math). Solve problems and win.
Colorado Students Engineer a Prosthetic for a Veteran
This blog post is sponsored by Samsung Solve for Tomorrow. All opinions are my own.
One of the national winners from the 2015-2016 program was a group of middle school students from Colorado. They engineered prosthetic enhancements for a veteran in need. Their mission was to build a comfortable and safe prosthetic for a veteran they knew. The veteran, Kyle Kelley, came in for an interview and measurements. They won a share of $2 million awarded nationally to community-improving STEAM projects around the country.
Many other winners have done amazing things including:
- Classroom furniture for those with special needs
- An EV Charging Station
- A smartwatch app to warn pedestrians of oncoming traffic
- A Hiking safety app
This contest is a fantastic way of helping your students use their skills to improve the world and win technology equipment for your school.
How does the contest work?
- Entry Period (now through Nov. 9): Teachers from across the country complete the Solve for Tomorrow online application with an idea about using students’ STEAM skills to positively impact their community.
- First Round (Nov. 22 – Dec. 6): Samsung announces 255 state finalists selected to submit a lesson plan for how their proposed STEAM classroom project will improve their community.
- Second Round (Dec. 13 – Feb.22): Samsung announces 51 state winners (total including the District of Columbia). Each school receives $25K in technology and a technology kit to produce their presentation video.
- Third Round (Mar. 1 – 25): Samsung announces 10 national finalists to receive $50K in school technology and a trip to the Pitch Event. Online voting for the Community Choice winner begins.
- National Winners (Early April): 10 national finalists present their prototype to a panel of judges. Samsung announces three national winners who will each receive a $150K technology grant for their school, plus a Community Choice winner who will receive an additional $15K in technology for their school.
Refer People and Enter to Win
New this year, Samsung has created a referral giveaway program to get all public school employees involved. While only teachers of 6th-12th grade may enter the contest, employees at U.S. public schools can refer their educator colleagues to complete a contest submission and they will be entered for a chance to win a Samsung Galaxy Note8 or Samsung 65” TV. Teachers must name their referrer in their application, and Samsung will randomly select five referral winners.***
***Not open to the general public: No purchase necessary to enter or win. Open to employees at eligible schools in the fifty (50) United States/DC twenty-one (21) years of age or older. To enter/official rules: share the Contest with other educators by directing them to www.Samsung.com/Solve to complete the application form including referral fields with all required information. Referrals may come from teachers, administrators or faculty members. Sponsor: Samsung Electronics America, Inc., 85 Challenger Rd., Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660 Void where prohibited. Ends 11/9/17.
Last Year’s Winners
To get some examples of the winning projects, here are last year’s winners.
Selected 2016-2017 National Finalist Schools and Projects
These are some of the finalists as selected by Samsung to give you examples of projects they have selected in prior competitions.
| School | Location | Project Overview |
| Beebe Junior High School | Beebe, Ark. | Designed and built a robotic car seat to alert adults when children are left in hot cars |
| Snowflake Junior High School* | Snowflake, Ariz. | Created a low-cost wildlife detection system to alert drivers of animals crossing the road and mitigate accidents |
| Gulfport High School | Gulfport, Miss. | Created a vending machine to supply free hygiene products to the homeless |
| Gering High School* | Gering, Neb. | Developed a drone-powered spraying system to target weeds and use fewer chemicals on crops. |
| Pinkerton Academy | Derry, N.H. | Created an app that helps youth get support anonymously when bullied in school |
| John P. Holland Charter School | Paterson, N.J. | Created a safety app to track students’ route and call for help if needed when walking to school in high-crime areas |
| Secondary School for Journalism* | Brooklyn, N.Y. | Created an app that helps students in need get an after-school meal from local restaurants that might have otherwise gone to waste |
| Ross High School | Hamilton, Ohio | Created an emergency notification app to detect and alert faculty and first-responders of any suspicious activity in schools, such as an active shooter |
| Crownover Middle School | Corinth, Texas | Built temporary natural disaster relief housing for those in need |
| Pineville Middle School | Pineville, W.Va. | Designed a website connecting students in need with donated food, clothing, and other living necessities. |
*National Winner
How do we apply?
Applications are open until November 9, 2017. Apply online for consideration.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored blog post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to include a reference to their product. Regardless, I only recommend products or services that I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies that I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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