COMSTOCK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Comstock STEM Academy has announced that an idea submitted by a student has been selected as a state finalist in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow contest.
The academy says that this is the third time in the past five years that an idea submitted by one of their students has been selected as a state finalist in the contest.
This year, the idea was submitted by seventh grade student Makenna Martin. Martin had the idea to give first responders a monitor under their uniform to help recognize elevated heart rates, plus a mechanism for adjusting the temperature of the uniform to help lower the heart rate.
Martin was inspired by a classroom visit from former Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell, who told the class about the stressful nature of first responders’ jobs.
By having a calming measure incorporated into a first responder’s uniform, Martin believes that officers and first responders can make better decisions in stressful situations.
“In our local park, Merrill Park, a memorial is being built right now for the fire chief Ed Switalski, who died responding to an emergency on the expressway,” Martin said in a statement. “There was a huge procession of police and firefighters that went past our school to honor the fire chief. There is a lot of stress to being a first responder, and I would like to help create a device that will help with stress and the symptoms of PTSD.”
Officials at the STEM Academy now want all of Martin’s class involved in creating the device. The goal is to advance in the Solve for Tomorrow contest over the next month.
More information about the contest can be found online at https://www.samsung.com/us/solvefortomorrow/.
