NEAH BAY — Neah Bay High School’s winnings will stop at $71,000 in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, one step short of what students and teachers at the school had hoped would be a much larger prize.
Principal Ann Renker learned Wednesday that the school was not selected as one of the five grand-prize winners in the technology-in-the-classroom contest — a $1 million science and technology contest for teachers and students across the United States.
“It was worth it,” Renker said.
Three years’ worth
The $70,000 in technology the school will receive, along with $1,000 worth of equipment already awarded, is two or three years’ worth of technology budget for the high school, she said.
The 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 but expects to know soon.
A team of students led by teacher Phil Renault was among the finalists because of a student documentary project that brings together technology, filmmaking and environmental efforts.
From more than 1,200 entries, the team of Neah Bay High School and Markishtum Middle School students was selected as one of 25 semi-finalists in the contest in January.
Restoration of island
Using the $1,000 semifinalist prize of a camera, computer and video editing software, Neah Bay students documented their work on the restoration of Tatoosh Island, a sacred Makah island off Cape Flattery that is heavily polluted by diesel fuel from years of government use.
The project uses mushrooms to clean diesel fuel-contaminated soil on the island, which is too remote for other methods of soil decontamination.
The students’ two-minute video can be seen at www.samsung.com/solvefortomorrow.
In February, Neah Bay was selected as one of 12 finalists, qualifying the school for the $70,000 prize and a chance at $100,000 in additional prizes.
Neah Bay received 6,000 votes in the public voting portion of the contest.
Schoharie High School in Schoharie, Ill, won the public contest with more than 102,000 votes.
The four judge-selected grand-prize winners were Lawrence County High School in Moulton, Ala.; Jefferson Township Middle School in Oak Ridge, N.J.; Desert Wind Middle School in Maricopa, Ariz.; and Davenport School of the Arts in Davenport, Fla.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
