Princeton High School Named State Winners In National STEM Contest

PRINCETON, NJ - Princeton High School was named state winners for New Jersey in the 14th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM Competition.

As state winners they get a package of $12,000 in technology for their school.

This is not the first time PHS has achieved this feat. In the past students have won the national competion and have been selected as state finalists.

For this year’s competition, students are working to preserve indigenous languages by utilizing a robotic platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a stuffed animal "friend" that will speak Mam, a Mayan language.

The team of students work under the mentorship of sceience teacher Mark Eastburn.

"This is one of those unique experiences where students are able to come together across grades, skills, and languages to develop a project with real-world impact. I am very encouraged to see how students have been working to not only share contributions but also understand each other better,” Eastburn told Patch.

“With this particular project and its focus on indigenous languages, we have built bridges of understanding where everyone feels comfortable and valued under the umbrella of Solve for Tomorrow. We hope that these links might continue to strengthen and also expand as we prepare for the next round of competition."

If named one of three National Winners students get to $100,000 for their school.

State Winners were selected from among 300 finalists from public middle and high schools who submitted detailed lesson plans outlining how they propose to use 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.

The nationwide competition is 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.

“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,” Ann Woo, Head of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Electronics America, said in a media statement.

“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.”

Going forward each state winner will receive a video production kit from Samsung to help document their project and produce a three-minute video demonstrating how they are using STEM. They will need to submit their videos for review ahead of the deadline on Thursday, March 7, by 11:59 p.m.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com