HOWARD CITY, Mich. — If littering can lead to a fine, perhaps properly disposing of trash should pay, thinks Tri County Middle School's eighth grade STEM class. The sustainability-minded idea earned them a $12,000 prize package and the title of state finalist for Samsung's Solve for Tomorrow competition.
"I screamed when I read the email," said Dr. Christina Adamson, a computer science and STEM teacher at Tri County Middle School. "I'm ridiculously proud of these students."
Last semester, one of Dr. Adamson's classes decided to enter the competition. They needed an idea for how to use STEM to address "critical issues in their local communities," according to the competition's website.
"There's so much trash outside," said Lizzy David, the eighth grader whose imagining sparked the invention. "We should definitely build a trash can. Then we can code it and make it fun for people to throw their trash away."
Through sensors, switches and a scale, the trash can detects the presence of individual pieces of trash deposited into its receptacle. If truly trash (rather than a rock, for example), a ticket or a token is deposited.
"Hopefully it becomes a world or a country thing," said Cade Nichols, a student.
In Tri County Middle School's case, the tickets or tokens could be used as vouchers to attend home sporting events or purchase food at school, Dr. Adamson says.
"They kind of walk out of class and go, 'Oh my gosh. I had to do math today, but I had fun doing it.'"
In preparation for the national competition, where schools from around the country will present their submissions to Samsung, the class is 3D printing small prototypes of the trash can, trying to bring their bright idea to life.
"When [my dad] was a kid, he didn't get this type of stuff," said Gabrielle Johnson, a student. "He's really happy that I can."
If named one of ten finalist schools, Tri County will receive a $50,000 prize package and be invited to a live pitch event.
"I think sometimes it's easy to leave different generations out of conversations," said Dr. Adamson. "Sometimes those students will surprise you."
