Two students from Legend High School in Parker are now in the race for the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow contest, a nationwide STEM-based competition for problem solving.
Jimmy O’Hare and Hunter Ball, juniors in the school’s EDGE program, which stands for explore, discover, grow and empower, will represent the school as finalists in the contest, with the chance to win the $100,000 grand prize for classroom supplies and technology. The top 10 national finalists will receive $50,000, and state winners will receive $20,000.
Qualification for the context requires creating an innovative idea, based on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), that solves a problem within the community. O’Hare and Ball, who are both involved in the Technology Student Association, were looking for problems in the community that they could solve effectively.
They eventually developed a software program that would help with the language barrier faced both inside and outside the classroom. The idea originated from a talk with their EDGE teacher, Katie Manzanares, who expressed her frustration with Google Translate in helping to educate her students, as it was often difficult to use and inaccurate.
Ball and O’Hare have big hopes for their project, with its use expanding into more practical applications used on a daily basis, such as law enforcement.
Displays can be created by banner printing companies to be posted throughout the school and the community, so people can learn more about such achievements and accomplishments.