Corporate
50 State Winners Named in Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM Competition
Sustainability, Accessibility, AI & Entrepreneurship Emphasized in Community Solutions from Gen Z Student Innovators
1/30/2024
Samsung Electronics America today announced that 50 schools have advanced as State Winners in the esteemed 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) competition. Each State Winner has earned a Samsung technology prize package worth $12,000; the full list of State Winners is available at Samsung.com/Solve. These Gen Z innovators now move forward in their quest to be named one of three National Winners that each unlock $100,000 for their school. Overall, Samsung will award more than $2 million* in prizes to this year’s participating schools.
State Winners were selected from among 300 State Finalist public middle and high schools who submitted detailed lesson plans outlining how their students propose using STEM to address an important community issue. Sustainability, public health, and accessibility featured prominently in the solutions outlined by the State Winners, as were projects that had cultural significance, such as those dedicated to preserving endangered crops of cultural importance to communities, and safeguarding endangered indigenous languages.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a nationwide competition designed to empower students in grades 6–12 to leverage the power of STEM to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities. The competition engages U.S. Gen Z students to catalyze change by applying Problem-based Learning (PBL) principles, environmental stewardship, and entrepreneurship to address some of society’s most pressing challenges. The competition also promotes active, hands-on learning, making STEM more tangible and showcasing its real-world applications.
Gen Z’s Commitment to Community Through Innovation
Ann Woo, Head of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Electronics America, noted: “Working with students involved with Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, we’ve heard time and again that helping people in their local communities and society at large are key motivators. That’s certainly borne out by this year’s round of Gen Z-led STEM projects, where roughly one-third of our finalists are focused on solving public health issues, and another third on promoting environmental sustainability. Accessibility for people with disabilities, public safety, and agriculture were also top trending projects.”
Showcasing a forward-looking approach to problem-solving, nearly half of the student STEM-based solutions embrace the use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, big data analytics, geo-mapping, and robotics. Moreover, a number of the entries exhibit promising elements of entrepreneurship, or incorporate design thinking principles, highlighting the students’ innovative approaches and potential for building impactful solutions that endure beyond the competition.