Designs for a product that would provide warmth to homeless people and folks with poorly insulated homes has a trio of Center Grove students one step closer to presenting their idea in Washington D.C.
The idea beat out four other state finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, meaning Center Grove High School will represent Indiana in the national competition.
The three students, seniors Mahek Agrawal, Madison Hammill and Athulya Nair, began working on the idea of an insulating material that can be used as a blanket for homeless people or as a sealant for chilly mobile homes at the beginning of the school year. The students are part of Andrea Teevan’s Project Lead the Way biomedical science class at Center Grove High School.
Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition challenges sixth through 12th graders to come up with science, technology, engineering and math concepts to solve community issues, according to a Samsung news release.
Center Grove High School is one of 100 national finalists in the competition.
Each finalist is required to create a video demonstrating the prototype for their idea. After a committee reviews the submissions, 20 schools will be chosen to fly to Washington D.C. Five of those schools will be chosen as national winners and will present in front of U.S. Congress members in a separate trip to Washington, according to the Samsung project website.
For reaching this point, Samsung gave Center Grove High School $15,000 and a video kit so the students could film their submission. The five schools named national winners will get $100,000 in technology and classroom materials, according to the website.
Any funding Samsung provides the school will help enrich the educational opportunities available there, Nair said in November.
More than the funding or the status as a national finalist, Hammill is grateful their idea will get more of a platform from the exposure, she said.
“We’re really grateful for the support not only our school has given us and Ms. Teevan, but the ability to continue in this Samsung competition because our product can impact so many people,” Hammill said. “It can be used in so many people’s lives and can provide a cost-effective option.”
The competition helps show the potential that young minds can have as they work toward benefiting society as a whole, Nair said.
“High school students have the ability to make such great products that can impact the community in ways that are beneficial to the community and the producers,” Nair said. “With the right programs and facilities, high school students can be part of such a great movement.”
Advancing in the competition gives the students the ability to further the development of their product, Agrawal said.
“For me, it’s about the idea of the product we’ve created and being able to help people rather than the steps to completion,” Agrawal said. “We’re really excited we can continue going on in the competition, and to develop (our product) is a really interesting thing.”
