It looks as though there’s a lot of brainpower in the upcoming generation of Lakelanders, as the region has managed to get both École Dr Bernard Brosseau School and Glendon School  named to the eleven national finalists for Samsung’s Solve For Tomorrow Challenge.
The challenge is designed to give students an enthusiasm for the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and math (STEM) fields by having them try to solve a problem facing their community. As finalists, both schools will receive part of over $500,000 in Samsung products. The two grand prize winning schools will be visited by Mitch and Greg of the popular YouTube channel AsapSCIENCE, who will feature them in a video.
Madame Teixera’s grade 8 class at École Dr Bernard Brosseau School attempted to solve a problem that afflicts many Bonnyvillers. The bad tasting tap water was causing a large number of students to use bottled water instead. To reduce the impact on the environment, the class looked into how they could get the fountain water to taste better. Students conducted multiple tests to determine that the water was in fact perfectly safe to drink under Canadian guidelines, which lead to a field trip at the local water treatment plant. There they learned that Moose Lake – where Bonnyville gets its water from – contains a large amount of magnesium, which forces the town to have to treat it with a good deal of chlorine, thus the unpleasant taste. The class concluded that adding a charcoal filter to the fountains would be the best solution. The students took their findings to student council to pitch their idea.
Over at Glendon School, the downturn in oil prices has left a lot of students with less stable home lives. Staff noticed that more and more kids were coming to school hungry. While a breakfast and hot lunch program have been established, the school quickly realized that it would need a more cost efficient source for ingredients. Thus students began looking into how they could grow vegetables to provide hungry kids with healthy meals. The school has bought an indoor garden tower that can irrigate itself and plans to buy several more. They’re also converting several flower beds into vegetable gardens and building a few more plots outside. The Seniors’ Centre has also agreed to donate a part of their own vegetable garden to the school. The school also says it has applied for a few grants to build a greenhouse.
Both schools will need your votes to get those coveted two grand prize slots. You can vote at http://pages.samsung.com/ca/solvefortomorrow/English/vote.html