Three Alabama Schools Win $10,000 Each in National STEM Contest And Their Ideas Aim to Change Lives

Jackson-Olin High School, South Hampton K–8, and Hoover High School have each been awarded $10,000 in prizes after being named semifinalists in Samsung’s 16th annual Solve for Tomorrow STEM Competition, a nationwide contest that recognizes student-led solutions to real-world problems.
Out of thousands of applicants across the country, only 500 teams earned semifinalist status. According to Samsung, these teams stood out for something more than technical skill they showed a rare ability to pair science and technology with empathy, grounding their ideas in the needs of their own communities.
Collectively, Samsung is distributing $2 million in funding and resources to support public school STEM education, and Alabama’s students are firmly part of that national conversation.
STEM with a purpose not just a prototype
What makes these projects compelling isn’t just their use of robotics or artificial intelligence it’s the urgency behind them.

At Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, students are tackling environmental health head-on. Their project focuses on restoring Village Creek, using STEM tools to monitor water quality and improve environmental conditions that directly affect nearby neighborhoods. It’s science as stewardship, rooted in place and responsibility.
Students at South Hampton K–8 are responding to a different kind of threat: severe weather. Their team is developing a community-based tornado warning system, designed to help protect vulnerable Birmingham neighborhoods like Pratt City areas where early alerts can mean the difference between safety and catastrophe.
Meanwhile, Hoover High School students are thinking about mobility and independence. Their project centers on designing a wheelchair-mounted lifting device, aimed at giving people with disabilities greater freedom and autonomy in daily life. It’s engineering with dignity at its core.
Each team received $10,000 worth of Samsung technology to help refine and advance their ideas as they move into the next phase of the competition.
What happens next?
The journey is far from over.
Each team will be paired with a Samsung employee mentor, gaining access to real-world industry insight. In February 2026, they’ll submit a tightly crafted three-minute pitch video, explaining not just how their solution works but why it matters.
In March 2026, Samsung will announce 10 finalist teams, seven of which will receive an additional $50,000 in prizes. Finalists will then present their projects live to a panel of judges.
Beyond that, a public voting round and internal judging by Samsung employees will award more $10,000 prizes, while three top teams will ultimately earn $100,000 each to continue developing their ideas.
A reminder of what STEM education can be
In a moment when education funding is often uncertain and attention spans are short, these Alabama students are doing something quietly radical: they’re using science to care about clean water, public safety, and human dignity.
The Solve for Tomorrow competition doesn’t just reward innovation. It rewards imagination tethered to responsibility. And for these three Alabama schools, that combination has already paid off long before the final prizes are awarded.