Solve for Tomorrow: Teachers empower students to make the impossible possible

Proving that you don’t have to wait until adulthood to solve messy problems

Solve for Tomorrow Contest[i], Samsung’s annual corporate social responsibility program and nationwide competition, encourages Canadian students in grades 6 – 12 to develop innovative solutions to address pressing challenges facing their communities. St. Mary-St. Cecilia Catholic School in Morrisburg, Ontario won the 2023 competition with their hydrogen generator prototype, a device that supports the shift to sustainable energy sources for residential and commercial buildings. We sat down with the teachers of the winning team, Blair Fitzsimons and Laura Ferguson, to discuss their experiences.

Inspiration: What made you want to enter the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest?

Many reasons! Above all, competitions like this empower students to drive change in the world.  Students do not have to wait until adulthood to solve messy problems; they simply need to be given the opportunity. This is what we try to do every day in the classroom: to empower the leaders and changemakers of tomorrow. As educators, we need to give kids the opportunity to do the things they believe are impossible.  In my experience, they will do unimaginable things that you never thought possible, if given the chance.

Team Dynamics: How did you organize and manage the student team during the development of the hydrogen generator?

The key to success is focusing the kids on small achievable goals, followed by celebration.  With a project like this, it can become easily overwhelming, especially for students.

I am a firm believer in creating opportunities where students can experience child-sized adversity or crisis. There, they begin to ponder approaches or solutions without the limitations that we as adults approach problem solving. It also makes each individual success or contribution from a student much more significant.

From prototype to prototype, we would take the lessons learned and apply it to our next iteration. We also researched the mathematical principles for hydrogen generation, to validate our designs with actual numbers. The dynamic was playful and fun, but also with a managed timeline to ensure we reached our goals.

Highlight: What was your high point from the whole experience?

My highlight was certainly the final five awards ceremony. Being a small school in rural eastern Ontario, the students really struggled to understand how significant their work was.  As grade six students, I felt that they never truly believed that they could beat high school level teams. On awards ceremony day, surrounded by parents, friends and teachers, they, for the first time, realized their awesome potential after receiving such amazing recognition.  The cheers, the tears and the clapping as they danced and celebrated on center stage was a special moment in my career.

Educational Impact: How has participating in the contest impacted your students’ interest in STEM or their future plans?

As teachers, we try to plant seeds of inspiration and excitement for STEM learning.  Oftentimes, we never get to see that seed blossom or produce fruit; we are just one step along their journey. I truly believe that these students will go on to accomplish amazing things because they were given the opportunity to discover their true potential as change makers, through this competition.

Advice for Teachers: What would you like to share with teachers participating in the 2025 contest?

I would encourage other educators to walk with students and be co-learners. Take their ideas seriously and find ways to make what you believe is impossible possible. I would say take the leap and trust in your abilities to manage the chaos of an oftentimes messy learning journey.

Long-Term Vision: Where do you see this project heading in the next five to ten years?

We have done so much of the preliminary work but now need experts to take this to the next level of trials and prototyping.  Hydrogen technologies are only now being considered as a viable alternative to energy production and storage and we feel ours can make a difference. We believed that, as Canadians, we all have a shared responsibility to fight climate change.

To learn more about Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow Contest, see here.

_

[i] Terms and Conditions apply. The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest begins on12:00:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 30, 2025.Open to residents of Canada who are twenty one (21) years of age or older and are currently employed as full-time teachers in a public Middle School, Junior High School, or High School, grades 6-12, including Charter Schools that are 50% or more publicly funded in Canada. All Canadian publicly funded schools are eligible to participate. Schools that are publicly funded but outside of the provincially-run school board/district/division system, such as Charter Schools in Alberta and Federally-funded schools in FNMI communities, are eligible to apply if they meet the grade requirements. A full-time teacher, as defined above, is eligible to enter the Contest as part of a team with at least one (1) or more students up to a maximum of fifty (50) students (the “Participant”). The Contest is divided into three phases. Phase One requires teams to submit a written entry through the registration link on samsung.com/ca/solve between 12:00:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (“EST”) on October 15, 2024 and 11:59:59 p.m. EST on January 31, 2025. Twelve (12) Regional Finalist teams will be selected on or about February 19, 2025 by a panel of six (6) qualified judges selected by Samsung based on the selection criteria stated in the full Official Contest Rules. Each eligible Regional Finalist will receive a Samsung Voucher to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products, with a total value of $2,500 per selected team. During Phase Two, each Regional Finalist team will be required to submit a video between February 20, 2025 at 12:00:01 a.m. EST and March 28, 2025 at 11:59:59 p.m. EST to be eligible. All eligible submissions received will be judged by a panel of six (6) qualified judges selected by Samsung based on the criteria stated in the full Official Contest Rules, and four (4) National Finalists will be selected. Each eligible National Finalist will receive a Samsung Voucher to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products, with a total value of $5,000 per selected team. Phase Three requires each National Finalist team to make a presentation to judges on their Project based on the criteria provided by Sponsor (the “Presentation”). All eligible Presentations will be judged by a panel of six (6) qualified judges selected by Samsung based on the criteria stated in the full Official Contest Rules, and one (1) Grand Prize Winner, and two (2) Runner Up Winners will be selected. The eligible Grand Prize Winner and Runner Up Winners shall receive winning prizes as follows: Grand Prize Winner – Samsung Vouchers to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products with a combined total value of $50,000; First Runner Up Winner – Samsung Vouchers to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products with a combined total value of $10,000; Second Runner Up Winner – Samsung Vouchers to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products with a combined total value of $10,000. The videos of all four (4) National Finalists will exhibited on samsung.com/ca/solve, and eligible members of the general public will be permitted to vote on their favourite National Finalist Entry. Voting will be open from 12:01:01 a.m. EST April 15, 2025 and end at 11:59:59 p.m. EST on, April 28, 2025 (“Public Voting Period”). The eligible National Finalist who receives the most qualifying votes will be awarded Samsung Vouchers to purchase Samsung technology, and/or select Samsung products with a combined total value of $5,000. All prizes will be made payable to the Participant’s school for use by the winning teacher. Odds of winning depend upon the total number of entries received during each phase. Must correctly answer a mathematical skill-testing question to win. For more information and a copy of the full Official Contest Rules, visit samsung.com/ca/solve.