School spends $99,999.96 of $100,000 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow winnings

Roxie Murphy, Staff Writer
Posted 4/17/19

“Out of the $100,000, we spent $99,999.96,” said Cindy Hawkin, Owensville High School (OHS) principal, at the Monday night school board meeting. “I told (Kevin Lay) I thought we …

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School spends $99,999.96 of $100,000 Samsung Solve for Tomorrow winnings

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“Out of the $100,000, we spent $99,999.96,” said Cindy Hawkin, Owensville High School (OHS) principal, at the Monday night school board meeting. “I told (Kevin Lay) I thought we could find something for 4 cents, but we spent all we could.”

Hawkins was referring to the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow winnings earned by Lay’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students, Jonah Hoffman, Paige Tayloe and Trey Fisher. The winnings were the result of an April 1 final presentation of their project to a panel of judges in New York City, one of 10 final presentations that day. Their project consisted of a classroom security door lock that the trio developed. 

Samsung announced April 2 that Owensville High School was one of three winners of the $100,000 prize. Lay received notification by email April 4 that the district would have one week to spend the funds. The clock started counting down after he opened the email.

“I think Coach Lay did a really good job of reaching out to our building and our district and looking at the needs of the district when we were purchasing what we wanted to purchase with these funds,” Hawkins said April 15. “He didn’t have very long to do it.”

Lay managed to reach out to teachers and staff in all departments, make a wish list of items and order before the deadline on April 10.

“So I wanted to give you a highlight of some of the things that will be coming into our district because of this money,” Hawkins told the Gasconade County R-2 School Board. “It’s not just lecturing and taking notes anymore in education. It’s ‘get those kids involved, problem solving, thinking on their own and working as a team’ and that is how they are going to be successful.”

Hawkins presented a list of items ordered with the $100,000 from the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest winnings, adding that the school district may expect items to arrive anytime.

Hawkins said she isn’t sure what some of the items are, but they included Samsung Flip Digital Flipcharts, CNC machines, Google Chromecast for the television, a digital piano, smart TVs, resin 3-D printers, and a light bar and headsets for the stage crews in the theater department to be able to communicate back and forth during a show. 

Also ordered were charging pads, furniture to hold everything and places to store everything. 

And there were drones and drone kits for the classrooms, a Spheros ball to start learning coding for the middle and elementary schools. He ordered microscopes for the science department, calculators for the math department, STEM lab tables, a 75-inch smart TV for the library for presentations, computers, science coding kits, computer science starting kits, workstations, Samsung Spin 2-N-1 Notebooks and coding circuits, along with the cords. 

Curriculum with the new weather station and licensing for two sets of Chromebooks were also included in the order.

“You would be so proud of this group of kids,” Hawkins said.

Items are expected to arrive before the end of the year.

Owensville High School’s representatives will be joined by fellow finalists and the Community Choice award winner during a luncheon in Washington, D.C., the first week of May and will also have the opportunity to meet with, and present, their projects to their respective congressional representatives.