Vote here: www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow
NEAH BAY — Internet voting will end at 9 p.m. Monday in a contest in which Neah Bay High School and Markishtum Middle School are a finalist for a prize of $100,000 in technology.
As one of 12 finalists in Samsung’s second annual Solve for Tomorrow contest — a $1 million science and technology contest for teachers and students across the United States — students in Neah Bay already are assured of receiving $70,000 in technology and software.
A team of students and teachers were named finalists because of a student documentary project that brings together technology, filmmaking and environmental efforts.
Neah Bay students documented part of the restoration of Tatoosh Island, a sacred Makah island off Cape Flattery that is heavily polluted by diesel fuel from years of government use of the island.
The project uses mushrooms to clean diesel fuel-contaminated soil on the island.
The top prize, an additional $100,000 in technology and software, will be awarded to five grand prize winners — four awarded by judges and one through an Internet popularity contest.
The students’ two-minute video can be seen at www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow, where votes are accepted.
In Internet voting as of Saturday morning, Neah Bay was ahead of three schools and behind eight others with 5,208 votes.
The top two were Schoharie (N.Y.) High School, a school near Albany, which had 90,663 votes, and Sutter Middle School in Folsom, Calif., near Sacramento, which had 83,847 votes.
“Can we really compete with a suburb of Sacramento or Albany?” asked Principal Ann Renker.
Yet hopes remain high that the school’s video will receive one of the four grand prizes that are selected by judges.
“We’re hoping that the unique nature of the project would catch the eye of the judges,” Renker said.
“Our video compared to the other ones really takes the documentary approach, which is what the grant asked for,” Renker said.
“And we have a cultural link that’s different than any of the other groups,” she added.
“It’s also different because it’s not what you would consider traditional recycling.”
But even if the school doesn’t win the grand prize, the $70,000 in technology and software is a huge boon for the small school district.
“Our teeny little school is going to end up with $70,000 worth of technology,” Renker said.
“There is no way we could come up with that money without this contest.”
The $70,000 finalist prize will be awarded in the form of $32,000 worth of Samsung classroom technology, $32,000 in Microsoft software, $5,000 in Adobe software products and a grant from DirecTV for access to educational programming.
Renker said she does not know when the school will receive the technology.
She also doesn’t know when the winners of the contest will be announced.
Whatever happens, the principal said she is very proud of the students’ work and of the education they are receiving by doing it.
“We’re going to be able to empower other students to use video and electronic media when completing projects,” Renker said.
“We may be looking at a new way to do term papers and school work.”
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Arwyn Rice contributed to this report.
