HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — A group of students from Strawberry Crest High School is celebrating after they won a national STEM award from Samsung.
ABC Action News introduced you to the group earlier this month.
The group was among 10 schools from across the country to travel to Washington, D.C., to pitch their inventions at the Samsung Solve For Tomorrow competition.
“We were holding hands at the table, and we all looked at each other and all the other teams; it was a great moment,” said student Mehar Chhabra.
From giving high-fives to wiping away tears, being recognized as a winner will be a day these students never forget.
“We were surprised, we knew our project was good but there was a lot of good schools there,” said student Patrick Cseh. “The Samsung CEO was there and we shook his hand; it was really cool to stand on that stage and accept that award.”
“All the connections that we made, the people we got to talk to, the things we got to see, because of Samsung, it was really beautiful,” said Chhabra.
They call their award-winning device the Human Health Band. It uses various sensors to monitor an athlete’s temperature while they're playing. If they start to overheat, an alert is immediately sent to the coach or trainer’s phone.
“It makes me very happy that we became part of this team. We were part of this effort that has the potential of saving lives and preventing heat-related illnesses because this is a real issue in our society that needed to be addressed,” said student Aarushi Pant.
“We sacrificed a lot to be able to do this and there was a lot of hard work that went into it and especially from our seniors,” said Chhabra.
The students said the support they received from their classmates and teachers back at Strawberry Crest throughout this journey has been amazing.
"Our phones were blowing up, all of our classmates and teachers were texting us and congratulating us,” said Cseh.
“And they were so proud of us; we hear that teachers were crying and our parents were so happy for us; it was awesome,” said student Anna Steed.
They not only brought home a trophy but $100,000 in prize money.
“We didn’t win just for us and our team; we won for our school because the money goes to everyone here,” said Chhabra.
They plan to use the money to continue to build the school's STEM programs and also continue to improve the Human Health Band in hopes it one day becomes an actual product we can purchase and use.
