TFHS students advance in science contest

A science project by two Thompson Falls High School students has earned them a spot in a state competition. They have been named one of the 300 finalists in the 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. Carter Marquardt and Bryson LeCoure have the chance to take their STEAM project to the National competitions and win prizes from the sponsoring company Samsung.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow (SSfT) is a national competition designed to empower students in grades 6-12 with their ideas for Science, Technology, Engineering, and recently added Arts, and Math, (STEAM). By integrating these concepts of learning, students can invent solutions to important and timely issues in their communities. SSfT has stated these qualifications in their guidelines for the competition.

By the outlined format, the students wrote up their scientific method. First they chose an issue that they could relate to. Marquardt said he likes to go off-road on his four wheeler. With the issue of ATV traffic increasing in the forests, he noticed a lot of dust covering vegetation on the roadsides. They decided to test the effects of dust on plants with regular summer light. Data on oxygen levels and carbon dioxide was collected from three plants in controlled environments. The three closed systems had the carbon measured in parts per million. "We added the dust to the plants before we closed them in the jars," LeCoure said. Each plant had a different amount of dust on them. "We found that the moderately and heavily dusted plants died quickly, but the plant without dust stayed alive," Marquardt said. Now that their question of whether or not dust affects plants on the roadside has been answered, the boys' next step is to design a pump to spray the dust off of the plants from an ATV. They will then need to do the experiment to prove their hypothesis that the pumped water will suppress the dust. Their activity plan deadline is January 11, 2024.

According to the guidelines, 50 state winners will receive a Samsung Video Kit to assist them with their "STEM solution pitch video," as well as $12,000 in Samsung technology. One of the 50 will be recognized for effecting change, with a Sustainability Innovation Award and an additional $50,000 prize package that includes Samsung ENERGY STAR technology. One state winner will be awarded the Rising Entrepreneurship prize of a $25k package to foster the development of a "scalable, sustainable venture that extends beyond the competition." Ten National Finalist Schools will participate in the live pitch event where they will present their projects to a panel of judges. Seven schools will be awarded $50k in Samsung tech and classroom supplies. A community choice winner will also be determined through online voting by the general public, winning $10,000 in prizes. An Employee choice winner will be selected by Samsung employees to receive $10,000 in prizes. Judges will name three National winners each of whom earns a prize package worth $100,000.

The boys said their project took three weeks to plan and set up and five days to conduct their first experiment. For the next step of their project Marquardt said he enjoys building things and has a lot of parts lying around to build the pump. "My favorite part of this project is designing and problem solving and the real world application without any major restrictions to offroading, and finding solutions to local environmental problems," he said.

LeCoure said, "I like the real-world application and seeing the impact of what we do out our back door."