NEAH BAY — Students in Neah Bay will be awarded $70,000 in technology and software for their school, thanks to a student documentary project that brings together technology, filmmaking and environmental efforts, contest sponsor Samsung announced Tuesday.
A team of students and teachers at Neah Bay High School and Markishtum Middle School were named among the top 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.
The top prize, an additional $100,000 in technology and software, will be awarded in March to five grand prize winners.
“Even just the $70,000 is a huge amount of money for our small school,” said Phil Renault, Neah Bay teacher and adviser to the group of students who made the documentary.
The contest required students to write a proposal, then make a documentary about a local environmental project focusing on math and science.
It was a natural combination for Neah Bay students, Principal Ann Renker said.
“Our area of the country really works on green solutions,” Renker said.
Additionally, the school is part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — or STEM — program that teams high school mentors with middle school students for math and science education.
Neah Bay students proposed documenting 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.
“It was a fabulous opportunity to work with the tribe and community,” Renker said.
The Tatoosh Island cleanup is being managed by the Makah tribe and a contractor, but students got a chance to experiment with the fungus in the classroom.
“We worked on it in chemistry,” said Rebecca Thompson, 18, a senior who was part of the documentary project.
Students used different types of soil and contaminants and compared results, Thompson said.
The proposal for the documentary was selected by a panel of judges.
After being named one of 25 finalists, the school received $1,000 worth of technology in December — a camcorder, laptop computer and digital editing software, Thompson said.
For the project, two mentor teams of student documentary filmmakers from the middle and high school used that equipment to film other students working with the Makah tribe.
The students’ two-minute video can be seen at www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow.
Four of the 12 finalist documentaries will be selected by judges to win the grand prize of $100,000 in technology.
A fifth grand prize winner will be selected by public vote on Samsung’s website.
Supporters can vote for the Neah Bay documentary once per day per computer until midnight Monday, March 12.
Neah Bay was one of only two West Coast schools selected as a finalist.
Sutter Middle School in Folsom, Calif., was the other West Coast selectee.
The $75,000 finalist prize will be awarded in the form of $32,000 worth of Samsung classroom technology, $32,000 in Microsoft software, $5,000 of Adobe software products and a grant from Direct TV for access to educational programming, Renault said.
How the $100,000 would be awarded is less clear.
Renker said she hopes there will be options for e-book readers, tablet computers and other current technology the school needs to prepare students for 21st-century employment.
Washington state is a national leader in available jobs, but most of those jobs are in the science and technology sector, Renker said.
Meanwhile, the state is 46th in preparing students for these jobs, she said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
