Great Bridge students win 50k for technology addressing busing issues
CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Students at a Chesapeake high school are hoping to solve busing issues through creativity.
This month, Samsung awarded a team from Great Bridge High School $50,000 for their idea to fix delayed busing routes.
Now, the students are hoping to win $10,000 more by winning the “community choice vote.”
It’s part of their 12th annual Solve for Tomorrow competition, which encourages public school students to come up with solutions to problems in their community.
Great Bridge was one out of 10 teams selected.
“What Solve for Tomorrow does for these students, it allows them to find a problem in their community and find a solution they’re using skills they’ve learned in all of their classes,” said Paula Labbe, who is an electronics and robotics teacher at the school. “They’re applying computer science, public speaking, working as a team, problem-solving. [These are] the skills they’ve going to take with them into the workplace to make them successful.”
The students — juniors Donovan Carter and Camille Kersha and senior Darren Labbe — will represent the team in New York City next month for the final stage of the competition. They could win up to $130,000 Labbe said.
The idea blossomed back in the fall when Carter, who rides the bus to school, was constantly late for Labbe’s first block class.
“It was pretty annoying. During the first week, it was kind of like, ‘It’s the first week, I can let it vibe.’ But, as it kept happening consistently and happening during incredibly cold weather, it was pretty annoying and it didn’t seem safe to have it keep happening,” Carter said.
So, they came up with the idea inspired by Carter’s father’s delivery job where they track packages on routes.
“We have a card that has every students’ address or bus stop number. When they get on the bus, it will notify and plot their points. The app will track the most efficient route. When the kids get off, they’ll scan it again and verify the kid got off the stop,” he said.
Kersha hopes the school will be able to use the app once it’s complete.
“It’s already hard coming back to school after the pandemic. Kids being late and missing instruction is not helping the situation. If kids are on time, it gives them an equal opportunity,” she said.
The team also hopes that other districts will be able to use the technology and they’re excited to head to New York next month to make that possible.
“It’s an incredible opportunity. It’s very exciting to get as far as we have gotten through multiple levels of the competition, different steps of working on the app, and the process to get here. It’s been a lot of work that’s very exciting and we’re excited to see the outcome,” said Darren Labbe.
The team has not heard about ideas from the other students selected but they’re looking forward to seeing the presentation and meeting them.
Labbe says she’s proud of the students and the opportunities they’ll get from the competition.
“It’s very exciting. It’s a huge opportunity not just for the school and the prize and not just for the school but the students involved. It’s an opportunity to present and travel and realize their own impact on the community,” she said.
The school also has the chance to win an additional $10,000 through the Community Choice award.
You can help them win by voting every day until April 23.
You can do that by voting here.
Gloss