DOVER, Fla. — Strawberry Crest is among 10 high schools nationwide to be selected as finalists in a STEM competition hosted by Samsung.
This weekend, students will be in Washington, D.C., to pitch their inventions in hopes of taking home first place.
The device, called the Human Health Band, hooks right up to any uniform and monitors athletes’ temperatures. What started out as a diagram in a classroom has quickly evolved into a potentially life-saving device on the playing field.
“We had a past student in this district that had suffered from a heat-related illness and unfortunately passed away, so that was one of the inspiring moments that we saw this was a prominent issue in our society that needed to be addressed,” said junior Aarushi Pant.
Pant is among 10 Strawberry Crest students responsible for developing the Human Health Band.
The students had school athletes test the band, using sensors to measure the athlete’s temperature and then relaying that temperature to an app on a phone.
“Whenever their body temperature gets too hot, it will send an alarm to a collective device that the coach has, and that way, the coach can pull them off the field,” said senior Mahika Balaraju. “When you are playing and practicing, it’s so hard to pay attention to that and keep track of how you are really feeling.”
So far, the reaction among athletes has been positive.
“They say it’s great, it’s sleek, it's subtle, it fits in well with the gear,” said senior Varun Patel.
Athletes and coaches weren’t the only ones impressed—so was Samsung, announcing Strawberry Crest as a top ten finalist in their Solve For Tomorrow national competition.
“Samsung, that’s a big company, so to be able to do something like this is really rewarding and really fun,” said Patel.
The students are now off to Washington, D.C., to pitch the band alongside the nine other finalists before a panel of Samsung judges.
There is also a Community Choice award where the public votes for their favorite invention. To vote for Strawberry Crest, click here.
The winner of the Community Choice award receives $10,000 to be put back into their school’s STEM programs.
