PHS a finalist for Samsung grant

Funding would help get students’ drone project off the ground

Posted 12/18/18

A Powell High School project may soar to new heights if the school wins a $20,000 grant.

The PHS Drone Project was recently named one of five state finalists through the Samsung Solve for …

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PHS a finalist for Samsung grant

Funding would help get students’ drone project off the ground

Posted

A Powell High School project may soar to new heights if the school wins a $20,000 grant.

The PHS Drone Project was recently named one of five state finalists through the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest. The nationwide competition “challenges students to creatively use STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills to address real-world issues in their communities,” according to contest organizers.

The prize would allow PHS to purchase new drones and infrared cameras to do a variety of agricultural-related projects — such as checking for warm spots in sugar beet piles or monitoring plant growth in fields.

“If we had a really good, functioning drone, we could do a lot of things for the community,” said Joel Hayano, who teaches computer science at PHS.

The PHS Drone Project started about five years ago, but neither of the school’s two drones are flying right now. One drone was destroyed in a crash, and the second has technical issues.

“I think part of it is, our drones are five years old, so the technology is really outdated already,” said Wendy Smith, who teaches science and has been involved with the drone project since it started. “The drones we had back then were top-of-the line, but now they’re past their prime.”

When PHS students had a drone to fly, they did some livestock counts, though the buzzing frightened the sheep.

“It was so noisy,” said Smith. “It sounds like a bunch of bees.”

Students also regularly flew the drone over fields, tracking as farmers plowed, leveled, planted and irrigated fields. The hope was to be able to see dry spots or detect disease in plants.

“If we got the infrared camera running, Western Sugar [Cooperative] was going to have us fly over the beet piles to check to see if there were any hotspots, so they could get in there and dig those beets out and process them before they spoiled and rotted with all the other beets,” Smith said.

PHS students and staff also have talked about using the drone for projects with Park County Weed and Pest, the Powell Clarks Fork Conservation District, Blue Ribbon Tree Service or other local organizations.

“We have lots of options we can do if we can get this project off the ground and get it moving,” said Smith.

Five students are regular members of the PHS Drone Project and meet after school each week, along with a few more students who occasionally attend. If the group gets the drones working, “there will be a lot more people who come,” Hayano predicted.

The school doesn’t have the budget for new equipment or drones, so “it’s just what we can get through grants,” Smith said.

When PHS originally applied for the Samsung grant this fall, the hope was to get a 3D printer so students could make parts for a camera mount for the drone. But the $20,000 Samsung technology package would help PHS students do even more.

“If we won it, we would end up buying new drones with cameras on them,” Hayano said.

The other state finalists in Wyoming are Newcastle High School, Laramie County School District No. 1 in Cheyenne, Lander Middle School and Moorcroft High School.

Out of 250 state finalists across the country, 40 state winners will receive a $20,000 Samsung technology package. The other 10 state winners will advance as a national finalist, where they have a chance to win even more: Seven national finalists will receive a $50,000 prize, and three winners will each receive $100,000 in Samsung technology and supplies.

Winners of the state grant will likely be announced in early January.

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