{"id":58515,"date":"2023-04-28T09:00:10","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/?p=58515"},"modified":"2024-03-14T13:14:58","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T17:14:58","slug":"samsung-solve-alumni-series-where-are-they-now-gabriella-florencio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/samsung-solve-alumni-where-are-they-now-gabriella-florencio\/","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Solve Alumni Series: Where Are They Now? Gabriella Florencio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GabyFlorencio_Headshot\"<\/p>\n

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Name:<\/strong><\/td>Gabriella \u201cGaby\u201d Florencio<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Today:<\/strong><\/td>Graduating Senior at City College of New York, with a degree in Creative Writing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Plans for Tomorrow:<\/strong><\/td>To pursue a \u201cstorytelling\u201d career in journalism, campaign copywriting, or news feature writing, focused on telling the \u201ceveryday stories\u201d of \u201ceveryday people\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ties to Samsung Solve for Tomorrow:<\/strong><\/td>I was a High School Senior at The Secondary School of Journalism (now the Cyberarts Studio Academy) in New York City. I was a 2016\/17 Solve for Tomorrow National Winner. Our team developed an app to connect students experiencing food insecurity (like many of the students we knew in our own urban neighborhood) with local restaurant partners who had excess food that would otherwise go to waste.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
What was your path from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition winner to where you are today?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Actually, it all started with my interest in journalism \u2013 my high school\u2019s focus. Journalism was changing dramatically in my high school days, becoming much more digitally focused, with technology increasingly important to storytelling.<\/p>\n

Our small class, 11 in all, was taking computer science \u2013 it was the first year the school taught coding. Our teacher Mr. Slabodsky told us about Solve for Tomorrow<\/a>. While it sounded fun and prestigious, we were concerned whether a few journalism students could realistically compete against schools with more STEM experience, resources, and tech connections. Thankfully, Mr. Slobodsky had faith in us.<\/p>\n

Students Gabriella Florencio, Louric Rankine and Xiaoling Liang celebrate being named one of the three national winners in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest while in Washington, D.C. in April of 2017; photo credit: Jocelyn Augustino<\/p><\/div>\n

As our team built out the app, telling our story became increasingly important. I learned that in STEM, execution is important \u2013 but so is explanation. I became heavily involved in our presentations, and with making our Solve for Tomorrow submission video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once in college, I was privileged to serve as a Samsung intern<\/a> \u2013 using my journalism skills to tell stories of Samsung\u2019s Citizenship programs through social media.<\/p>\n

So, for me, there\u2019s been a very direct line from Solve for Tomorrow<\/a> to now getting ready to graduate from CCNY and start my professional career. My dream is to use my storytelling expertise to be a voice for everyday people.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Recommended News<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Vote for Your Favorite Samsung Solve STEM Solution<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Vote Now<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Tell us about the origin of the food security app idea.<\/strong><\/h5>\n

As a writer, it has always been important to me to focus on \u201ceveryday\u201d things. That\u2019s how our project<\/a> started. When our class began brainstorming ideas for a Solve for Tomorrow<\/a> entry, I recalled hearing my mom \u2013 who was a school aide \u2013 talk about how much food she would see going to waste every day from the cafeteria. Meanwhile \u2013 our class all knew other kids in our neighborhoods who experienced food insecurity but didn\u2019t want to let others know it. After identifying that problem, then thinking about how technology could bridge the gaps between hungry kids and places with extra food, and do it confidentially, creating an app was a natural.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most important thing you learned or took away from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

I\u2019ll sum it up in one word \u2013 confidence! When Mr. Slabodsky suggested we should enter Solve for Tomorrow<\/a>, we had our doubts. But as we moved forward in the competition, we got more excited. Winning some Samsung equipment<\/a> in the early rounds, we felt more confident in ourselves. Our class began feeling more was possible, and we really dug in on our project. When we were chosen as National Winners \u2013 I felt I could do anything. For me as a writer \u2013 Solve for Tomorrow<\/a> gave me confidence that my ideas were worth listening to. That inspiration has carried me through to today and will be with me into the future.<\/p>\n

Gabriela Florencio and her teammates with NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at Solve for Tomorrow\u2019s April 2017 Washington, D.C. pitch event. (Photo credit: Jocelyn Augustino)<\/p><\/div>\n

What\u2019s your advice to STEM students and teachers who might consider entering Samsung Solve for Tomorrow next year?<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Focus on simple things \u2013 the everyday problems of the everyday people around you \u2013 and what you can do to create positive change. We focused on hunger \u2013 one of the most everyday problems there is. There\u2019s a word I\u2019d hear during my Samsung internship<\/a> that sums up what the most exciting and engaging Solve for Tomorrow<\/a> projects have in common \u2013 STEMpathy<\/a>. Projects that start with students exploring issues that negatively impact their friends and neighbors \u2013 projects that they can FEEL need fixing, to help people they can EMPATHIZE with. And then figuring out how to creatively use STEM to fix them. If you do that, whether or not you make it to the finals \u2013 it will be a win for you and your community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was your path from Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition winner to where you are today? Actually, it all started with my interest in journalism \u2013 my high school\u2019s focus. Journalism was changing dramatically in my high school days, becoming much more digitally focused, with technology increasingly important to storytelling. Our small class, 11 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29719,17563],"tags":[91,34,16225,832,30034,37,730,35,26197,28420],"blue-badge":[],"class_list":["post-58515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate","category-corporate-education","tag-citizenship","tag-education","tag-innovation","tag-public-affairs","tag-samsung-solve-where-are-they-now","tag-social-responsibility","tag-solve-for-tomorrow-sft","tag-stem","tag-stem-education","tag-stempathy-in-schools"],"acf":{"turn_off_retargeting":false},"fimg_mobile_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/14131351\/samsung-sft-alumni-gabriella-featured-new-200x200.png","fimg_url":"https:\/\/img.us.news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/14131351\/samsung-sft-alumni-gabriella-featured-new-432x286.png","primary_category":{"term_id":29719,"name":"Corporate","slug":"corporate","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":29719,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1026,"filter":"raw","term_link":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/category\/corporate\/","term_path":"corporate"},"badge":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58515"},{"taxonomy":"blue-badge","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.samsung.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blue-badge?post=58515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}