- April 26, 2024
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The winners of the second annual STEM Solutions by Students competition were announced on Saturday, Nov. 4, during Port Orange's Riverwalk Park ribbon cutting.
High school students across Volusia County participated in the competition, which encourages science, technology, engineering and math both in school and in their future careers. The competition included six municipalities and several departments throughout the county requiring students to come up with real-world solutions related to STEM presented by the different municipalities.
From Port Orange, Abby Santore and Alex Deaton, Atlantic High School, both came in first place. Spruce Creek's Connor Milton, Hannah Young and Lexi McLaughlin were awarded for their work, including Volusia County road and bridges solutions while Swaminathan Pranav also received a first place award.
Students form DeLand High, University High and Mainland High were presented with awards as well.
According to QLH Vice President Brad Blais, judges were made up of representatives from every community in addition to three engineers from the QLH firm.
"We certainly wanted to be a part of the educational roots in the community," Blais said. "We want to make sure that there's a venue for the students that are interested in pursuing STEM careers for them to be creative and show their skills and talents."
The idea for a STEM-related initiative was originally spearheaded between Florida engineering firm QLH and Amy Monahan, K-12 STEM Specialist for Volusia County schools. According to Monahan, Port Orange City Manager Jake Johansson came up with the idea to have municipalities provide students with the questions in a county-wide competition.
In Port Orange, officials had two questions for students: one asking how to solve the flooding problem on the Horizon Elementary sidewalk off of Yorktown Boulevard; the second being from the Port Orange Police Department asking how to prevent car burglaries using the sources already in place.
According to event organizers, last year some of the participating municipalities were able to use the answers given by students to solve those specific issues in the area.
Students who participated in the competition worked throughout September to find a solution. They were able to research and work in groups or by themselves. However, Monahan said teachers may also incorporate the competition into the classroom curriculum.
"When it's true and real the students really step up," Monahan said. "And we saw that this year. It's been fun."
