Ridgefield Park, N.J. – Samsung has announced the five
grand-prize winners in its nationwide Solve for Tomorrow contest, a competition
to raise enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)
education among U.S. public school students.
Schoharie High School of Schoharie, N.Y., won the
Community Choice Award through public online voting and will receive an
assistance dog for their school in addition to the $100,000 of technology. All
five schools will choose from a range of technology prizes, such as smart
boards, LED TVs, printers, laptops and software.
The other four winning schools are Lawrence County
School, Moulton, Ala.; Desert Wind Middle School, Maricupia, Ariz.; Davenport
School For The Arts, Davenport, Fla.; and Jefferson Township Middle School, Oak
Ridge, N.J.
The five grand-prize winners were chosen from the 12
finalists selected in February to receive technology from Samsung, Microsoft,
the Adobe Foundation and DirecTV. The 12 finalist videos can be seen at
www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow
.
All five winners will be honored in a special Washington
D.C. ceremony in April with John Legend, the Grammy Award-winning recording
artist and education advocate.
The contest is part of Samsung Hope for Children, the
company’s philanthropic initiative focused on helping children lead healthier,
smarter and more sustainable lives.
“The passion this contest engendered was amazing to
see,” said David Steel, corporate strategy executive VP of Samsung
Electronics North America. “Schoharie High School received more than
100,000 votes as our Community Choice winner. That kind of public support is
fantastic. Congratulations to all the winning schools as well as the other
seven finalists. We hope that the challenge of this contest, together with the
technology for winning schools, will help spark students’ passion to become the
innovators of tomorrow through STEM education.”
More than 1,500 schools from all 50 states entered the
contest that kicked off in August with an essay submission on how STEM can help
the environment in their community. Twenty-five were picked to receive a video
production kit containing $1,000 of technology — a Samsung laptop, camcorder
and Adobe software — to compete as semi-finalists and in the video phase of
the contest.
Samsung Hope for Children represents the company’s
philanthropic commitment in the U.S. to help improve children’s health, education
and sustainability. Over the past 10 years, Samsung Electronics America and its
retail and business partners have helped more than 400 schools, community-based
foundations, and charities throughout the U.S. raise awareness of and funding
for their causes.
For more information, visit
.
