A classroom security door lock developed by three Owensville High School students  has earned their school $100,000 in Samsung technology as one of three entries selected as national winners of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.

Samsung officials announced the final results Tuesday night in New York City. Final pitch presentations were made Monday morning and early afternoon before a panel of judges. The contest encourages teachers and students to solve real-world issues in their community using classroom skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Emerging from thousands of public school entries from across the country and being selected as one of 250 state finalists — one of five in Missouri — then the Missouri state winner, and then one of 10 national finalists, Owensville High School ultimately advanced through these phases of the contest to achieve the grand-prize title as one of three national winners.

Jonah Hoffman, Paige Tayloe and Trey Fisher on April 1 presented their project to a panel of judges in New York City,  the final presentation among 10 that day.

“Because of their creative use of STEM to address student and school safety, judges selected Owensville High School as a national grand prize winner,” according to officials with Samsung.

Owensville High School’s representatives will be joined by fellow finalists and the Community Choice award winner during a luncheon in Washington, D.C. the first week of May and will also have the opportunity to meet with, and present, their projects to their respective congressional representatives.

“This year’s national winners were truly impressive not only because of the passion and curiosity they have for solving critical community issues, but also because each school’s innovation represents a tangible solution capable of achieving measurable community impact,” said Ann Woo, senior director of corporate citizenship for Samsung Electronics America. “We at Samsung are committed to elevating STEM learning because year after year, with the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest, we witness how it inspires students to explore their future potential as engineers, designers, mathematicians, software developers and more.”

Woo was at the finals pitch event and addressed the contestants.

According to Samsung, with school shootings on the rise, students at Owensville High School designed a simple and secure door lock to help keep students and teachers safe in the event of an armed intruder. Because traditional door locks can be quickly dismantled by a firearm, Owensville High students designed, modeled and created a steel lock that cannot be easily disengaged from outside of the classroom. Once installed on the interior of a door, the one-piece lock can be easily and quickly put into place to prevent an intruder from entering and attacking students and teachers. 

A video of their project is found at the link: https://youtu.be/eQ3bkoOzrCY