Oceanside Students win $50,000 prize

Kristin Stea’s School 5 students in Oceanside won $50,000 for their school after advancing as national finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Science/Engineering Competition.

Out of the 10 national finalists, they were the only elementary school students to reach this level of the competition, and are part of the Oceanside School District’s Project Extra program for gifted and talented students. Their project consisted of a shoe-pedal system to assist children who use a lower body prosthetic to be able to ride a bicycle.

The class had already won $6,500 in the first phase of the competition and had to create a three-minute pitch video about their invention to move on to the final stage. Stea’s class will now head to New York City on April 25 to pitch the project to a panel of judges for a chance to be named one of three national winners and a $100,000 prize.

Stea’s class discussed some of the difficulties of creating their winning video. “We had to narrow it down to three minutes and originally our script was around seven minutes,” said Daniel Maturando, a participating student. “It took a really long time to narrow it down and get the main idea down. There were so many times we had to redo certain parts and it took so long.”

The students received assistance from Oceanside High School to film, edit and create the video and will begin to prepare their presentation to the Samsung panel of judges in New York City. The students will have to make their pitch to the judges without their teacher.

“We have to write a pitch almost like a Shark Tank,” said Stea, referring to the popular reality show. “All of us will take part in that and then only two kids are coming and I don’t get to go in the room. They have to know this project inside and out. Who does it benefit? Why is it sustainable? Who gets to use it? What materials did you use? How did you make it? What made you come up with it?”

In their upcoming presentation to the judges, students Conor Fee and Zainab Shakir will be making the pitch about why their project should be among the three winners. “I’m a little excited but a little nervous,” said Shakir. “We’re gonna have to do a lot of memorizing,” added Fee.

Stea’s class will be the youngest to present to the judges, which Stea hopes will be an advantage. “They’re the youngest in the whole entire competition,” Stea said. “They’re the only sixth-graders and they’re from a regular elementary school. Those other kids are in high school, college classes and engineering classes.”

After the presentation on April 25, the students will find out the next day if they will be among the three winners to net the $100,000 grand prize. Stea’s class can also earn additional prizes by being voted a Community Choice winner, receiving an additional $10,000 for their school. Those interested in casting their vote for the Community Choice winner can do so online.

Voting is permitted once a day until Saturday, April 23. Those interested in helping the students can go to the Samsung website, where the student pitch video is posted and they can vote daily.

Having already won over $50,000, with the chance to win an additional $100,000, Stea is hoping to use the money on upgrading the classroom. “We want new technology in the room that can benefit [students] for years to come,” said Stea. “There are so many great things out there. Samsung has so many cool devices. We’d love to bring some new devices here to the maker space room.”

Meanwhile, the students also have ideas on what to do with the money. “We should buy a smart fridge and a load of cheese sticks,” said one student, Matt Vlahakis.