For the fifth year in a row, Richmond Hill Middle School is once again a state finalist in Samsung’s 14th annual ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ STEM competition.

According to Samsung’s website, the competition “challenges public school students in grades 6-12 to explore the role science, technology, engineering and math (the core STEM subjects) can play in addressing some of the biggest issues in their local communities.”

Richmond Hill Middle School is one of five schools in Georgia to advance to the national competition this year. Each state finalist won $2,500 to go towards purchasing technology and supplies for their schools.

The middle school’s STEAM program has seen great success in the ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ competition over the past few years, with many teachers and staff praising the students’ practical knowledge on display.

“It’s great to hear the kids understand why they’re doing things, why they’re learning things,” Assistant Principal Kristy O’Sako said.

This year’s project, led by Science Enrichment teacher Riley Scheyder, uses artificial intelligence to create eco-friendly fishing methods that can aid researchers in learning more about the North Atlantic Right Whale, a whale that inhabits the same areas being fished for Black Sea Bass.

“Being a coastal community, our students knew that fishing is heavily impacted by this migration of the North Atlantic Right Whale, which is an endangered species,” Scheyder said.

Richmond Hill is hoping that their project will be named among the 50 state winners nationwide by Samsung on June 30th.