There are many engineering contests which seek out innovative solutions to ongoing problems. As with any competition, there is often an underdog. In this story, however, the underdog ended up an overachiever.
To put it in perspective, here are some numbers. The first one is one hundred thirty. That’s the number of people who live in Kakhonak, Alaska. The next one is six. That is the number of students in the middle school there. Finally, zero. That is number of roads leading to the town.
Does that sound like a winning recipe so far? Well, hold on. There is a more impressive number. Five million. That is the estimated number of trees in the local area killed by the spruce bark beetle.
As described in ForbesBrandVoice, the Kakhonak School entered the Solve for Tomorrow initiative, which seeks STEM-based solutions to environmental problems. They proposed to use the beetle-killed trees as fuel for heat and energy through thermoelectric generation.
This concept served two purposes. The removal of infected trees is expected to reduce the inflated beetle population, and the harvested trees can be used by the village for energy purposes.
The Solve for Tomorrow contest is organized by Samsung with “hope to raise enthusiasm for STEM education, demonstrate how STEM can positively impact our local communities, and reduce the technology gap in classrooms.”
The contest has several stages, and fewer schools are chosen to move on to each stage. There are awards at each level with increasing value. As part of the progression, contestants produce a video describing the challenge they are addressing and the proposed solution. An online voting system determines who will move on.
This is where Kakhonak School was worried. “Our kids were kind of depressed,” recalls Colter Barnes, principal of Kakhonak School. “We had seven Internet users.” Fortunately they had more than just local support. After the story ran in the Anchorage Daily News they had the entire state of Alaska behind them.
That backing – and, of course, the students’ hard work and good ideas – gave them the nudge they needed to get top honors in the competition. Best of all, the effort didn’t stop with the students.
With inspiration from the students’ success, the town “developed its own alternative energy infrastructure that includes two 95-kilowatt wind generators providing power to the community, a wood-fired boiler heating all local buildings, and a fiber-optic internet connection.”
This goes to show that the right idea combined with the right work ethic can accomplish big things, no matter what size package it comes in.
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To put it in perspective, here are some numbers. The first one is one hundred thirty. That’s the number of people who live in Kakhonak, Alaska. The next one is six. That is the number of students in the middle school there. Finally, zero. That is number of roads leading to the town.
Does that sound like a winning recipe so far? Well, hold on. There is a more impressive number. Five million. That is the estimated number of trees in the local area killed by the spruce bark beetle.
As described in ForbesBrandVoice, the Kakhonak School entered the Solve for Tomorrow initiative, which seeks STEM-based solutions to environmental problems. They proposed to use the beetle-killed trees as fuel for heat and energy through thermoelectric generation.
This concept served two purposes. The removal of infected trees is expected to reduce the inflated beetle population, and the harvested trees can be used by the village for energy purposes.
The Solve for Tomorrow contest is organized by Samsung with “hope to raise enthusiasm for STEM education, demonstrate how STEM can positively impact our local communities, and reduce the technology gap in classrooms.”
The contest has several stages, and fewer schools are chosen to move on to each stage. There are awards at each level with increasing value. As part of the progression, contestants produce a video describing the challenge they are addressing and the proposed solution. An online voting system determines who will move on.
This is where Kakhonak School was worried. “Our kids were kind of depressed,” recalls Colter Barnes, principal of Kakhonak School. “We had seven Internet users.” Fortunately they had more than just local support. After the story ran in the Anchorage Daily News they had the entire state of Alaska behind them.
That backing – and, of course, the students’ hard work and good ideas – gave them the nudge they needed to get top honors in the competition. Best of all, the effort didn’t stop with the students.
With inspiration from the students’ success, the town “developed its own alternative energy infrastructure that includes two 95-kilowatt wind generators providing power to the community, a wood-fired boiler heating all local buildings, and a fiber-optic internet connection.”
This goes to show that the right idea combined with the right work ethic can accomplish big things, no matter what size package it comes in.
Know More>>
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