NORTH BERWICK, Maine (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- A group of students at Noble High School are practicing for a chance to win $150,000 in technology for their school.
Samsung holds a contest each year called Samsung Solve For Tomorrow. It encourage students to create change at their school using STEAM, not STEM like you've heard before. The acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Yuhong Sun coached a team of students at the North Berwick High School that made it all the way to the top ten and have won $75,000 in technology so far.
"When they see the relevance they are motivated to learn, so it's just like a double win," said Sun.
Noble High School is in North Berwick, an area that had a serious water issue two years ago because of a drought. High levels of the mineral Manganese were showing up in the town's drinking water.
STEAM team members, including Junior Kale Jones, researched chemicals that were safe to drink and that would work to remove Manganese from water.
"My grandfather was complaining about it at his house and I remember him saying that, so it was cool to go to him and say we tried to fix this problem and we're coming up with solutions," said Jones.
The team used two chemicals inside of a PVC pipe to see if it they would filter Manganese from the town's water and it worked.
The filtration system removed about one third more Manganese than the water department's current system, according to chief operator Chris Weismann.
"We had no way to remove it, so it just went on to our customers.," said Weismann. "It creates water that looks black and also there is a health impact too."
Two members of the Noble High School STEAM team will travel to New York City on April 10 to present the water filtration project to a panel of judges. If they win, their school will receive $150,000 in Samsung technology.