GREEN, Ohio — High school students in the city of Green were challenged to solve a problem in the community through their STEM class.

  • The students are competing in the Samsung “Solve for Tomorrow” contest
  • Vaping is the major issue right now
  • If selected, three students will travel to NYC to pitch their plan for a chance to win the money for their school’s STEM program

“Last year, we were shocked to learn when they said that probably 60% of students have tried vaping,” said Mayor Gerard Neugebauer.

Green Mayor Gerard Neugebauer is advising the students on the project— they’re competing in the Samsung “Solve for Tomorrow” contest, where students look to solve problems in their community.

“It was actually the one that Samsung selected, so they decided that vaping was the major issue right now. And they liked our approach to it,” said Chris Kriebel, STEM teacher, Green High School

Not only does the program allow the students to tackle a real problem— they’re also getting real, hands-on experience.

“It's a huge problem, so they're seeing their friends, their families interacting with it, and then they go to class every day and they learn content, content, content and like, you know, they work in books, but they never get a chance to actually interact with the science. And so, this project allows them to interact and kind of gravitate to areas that they would excel in,” said Kriebel.

Right now the high school has laser sensors to detect vaping in the bathrooms. Each detector costs about $1,000 and students say they’re easy to “beat.”

So, project leader Nick Breth says they’re developing new technology.

“It's going to be a lot cheaper than $1,000, but it'll also be chemical and thermal-based instead of just laser-based, so I think ours can be more reliable and a lot more cheap,” said Breth.

It’s not just about catching students in the act. It’s about prevention and education.

“If they see you talking about it they have a better chance of quitting because it's like them hearing from another teenager, so that part of the education is really big. Because if we really want to make this project work, we want to, you know, have them quit or prevent them and one of the best ways to do that is through students,” said Alex Henry, Green High School junior.

If selected, three of the students will travel to New York City to pitch their plan for a chance to win $100,000 for their school’s STEM program.