With 102,023 votes, Schoharie High School has won the Community Choice Award in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Grant Competition! 
School officials announced the good news at an assembly held on Wednesday, March 14. (See photo at left, from the Schoharie Central School District.)
The victory, which celebrates the students' use of science and math to help their flood-damaged neighbors recover from Tropical Storm Irene, will bring the school $100,000 in classroom technology.
Readers of the WP can give yourselves a huge pat on the back -- we know that many of you voted early and often. Thanks.
Read the full celebratory press release from Schoharie Central School District below:
Schoharie students WIN Community Choice Award in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow grant competition
Schoharie Central School District has been named the Community Choice Winner in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow grant competition, in recognition of student efforts to video-document recent flood damage from a STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) standpoint.
The students clinched their victory by receiving 102,023 People’s Choice votes from the public through Samsung’s website, topping their closest competitor by more than 13,500 votes. The award was announced in an afternoon assembly on March 14, just before students ended their school day.
Votes were cast for the project that best demonstrates how STEM can help the community, with people age 13 and older permitted to vote once per day per email address. Each of the 12 finalists’ videos were posted on the Samsung website, https://pages.samsung.com/us/sft/video/index.jsp#top .
Several students in grades 10-12 researched, wrote, videoed and produced their production this fall and winter. They researched possible effects of flooding, visited the Schoharie River Center and Schoharie Valley Farms, took and tested soil samples, analyzed soil and sediment data provided by Cornell Cooperative Extension after the storm, wrote reports on their findings about soils, sediment and drainage, and captured it all on video.
As a cross-academic-discipline effort involving agriculture, science, technology, engineering, math, English and multi-media, the project involved a number of teachers and staff, who worked as a team with the students in the field and at the school. The students produced videos about the impact of the flooding on Schoharie's water, weather and soil. The soil video is featured in the final competition.
The students’ conclusion at the end of their video: “While the losses to our community were great, these studies taught us that nature tends to heal itself and gave our agriculture students firsthand insight into how to best manage man’s interface with nature.”
As Samsung’s Community Choice Award winner, Schoharie Central School will receive computer and audiovisual technology worth $100,000, a student trip to the winner announcement ceremony and possibly even a student assistance dog.
