FORESTBURG, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition named its winner for the state of South Dakota, Sandborn Central in Forsetburg, whose hard-working students will now compete at a national level.

The annual competition is designed to help students in Grades 6 through 12 leverage science, technology, engineering and mathematics to address real issues in their communities. The students of Sandborn Central focused on a specific issue impacting farmers in the region.

Students nationwide are learning and making an impact at the same time.

“Problem-based learning is really about understanding the issue, looking at your toolbox to see what you have and what you need to learn to get there, and then trying,” said Ann Woo, the Head of Corporate Citizenship with Samsung Electronics America. “Sometimes failure is a part of it, but what we really challenge these young people is not to just study it in a textbook, but to go out, understand it, and try and fix for it. Try and learn.”

Samsung introduced the competition to get more students to use critical thinking and solve real-world issues, offering incentives of generous prize packages, including Samsung products.

“As a state finalist they won $2,500 and we thought that was awesome and then to find out that we were a state winner and to win $12,000 in technology for our school, that is huge. We are a super small district and $12,000 of technology is a lot for this school,” said science teacher Kayla Olson-VanWinkle.

At Sanborn Central, a small class of young men saw an issue that not only is affecting their community but the entire Ag industry: fires on harvest equipment, which can destroy not only combines but ruin crops.

“We found out that there’s millions and millions of dollars lost yearly just from combine fires. I knew they were a problem, but I didn’t think they were that big,” said student Bryce Larson.

They eventually came up with a simple circuit with sensors that connect to a light in the operator’s cab.

“That photo-electric sensor hopefully will be able to send the signal early and give the operator a chance to not only escape but also put the fire out before it can cause too much damage,” Larson said.

“They are learning things that they don’t even know that they’re learning. They’re learning those critical thinking skills, those problem-solving skills, thinking outside of the box and doing their own research,” Olson-VanWinkle said.

The prototype was a success and now they need to perfect it and show it off, creating a video with the technology they won in the previous phase of the competition.

The project has not come without any difficulty. They have overcome problems with the sensors or wires smoking to find a way to move the project forward as a group. The classmates collaborate well on this project in part because of the smallness of the school and the class itself.

“I like that it’s a small class. It’s super easy to come together and come up with a common goal and we work together really well. It’s just been really fun,” Larson said.

“Working in this small district, you get to know your students really well, which is my favorite part of my job,” Olson-VanWinkle said. “They are all unique and they are so fun. They work really well together. I mean, these kids literally grow up together. To see them work on this is super fun and it makes me excited to come to work every day.”

Originally the students had wanted to create a system to put out a combine fire, but they soon found out that combine fires are too powerful and there would be greater difficulty finding a solution. They turned their focus to early detection of these fires.

Larson explained how the sensors work, comparing them to the sensors of a garage door opener.

“There are laser beams on both sides of your garage door and when the garage door is going down, if you walk between it, the garage door goes back up because the light between them was interrupted. The hope is that when a fire starts either the smoke or the flame will interrupt the light between our sensors and light up a lightbulb in the cab of the combine,” Larson said.

The Environmental Science class is grateful for the community support throughout this process.

“We got fifty-some [survey] results and as a student, it’s really cool to see the community support our idea,” Larson said.

Olson-VanWinkle said that she’s excited for her students and the class looks forward to representing South Dakota.

“With this video, the boys get to tell their story and the story of a lot of people here in South Dakota, so I’m just really proud of them and excited for them to be able to tell the story of how big our agriculture here is,” Olson-VanWinkle said.

In the next phase of the competition, the students will submit their video to show off their project and how they’re using STEM in March.

If they’re named one of the ten finalists, they will compete with an in-person pitch to a panel of judges in Washington, DC where they will have the chance to win even more prize money and technology.

According to Samsung, based on the state winners’ video submissions:

• One school will be honored as a climate visionary with a Sustainability Innovation Award for driving sustainable change through STEM innovation, and an additional $50,000 prize package that includes Samsung ENERGY STAR® technology
• One school will be selected for the new Rising Entrepreneurship Award, receiving a $25,000 prize package to foster the development of a scalable, sustainable venture that will extend beyond the competition
• 10 National Finalist Schools will be chosen to participate in a live, in-person pitch event in April where they will present their project to a panel of judges. From the National Finalists:
• Judges will name 3 National Winners, each of whom earns a prize package worth $100,000
• The remaining seven National Finalist schools will be awarded $50,000 in Samsung technology and classroom supplies
• A Community Choice Winner will be determined through online voting by the general public, winning an additional $10,000 in prizes
• An Employee Choice Winner will be selected by Samsung employees to receive $10,000 in prizes in addition to their National Finalist winnings

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