Wilton FFA to participate in national Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition
FFA (Future Farmers of America) Wilton Junior-Senior High School students are working together to make a difference in their community and beyond.
The group is among 50 finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition that combines agriculture and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) for students in sixth through eighth grade to solve problems in their community.
Six members from Wilton’s FFA Organization created a way to help farmers with grain bins in their community because grain-bin injuries and deaths are likely when checking levels.
Former FFA teacher at Wilton Junior-Senior High School and farmer Gary Bruns said grain bins threaten farmers, especially in a rush during colder seasons.
Students created the elite grain tracker that will help farmers determine grain levels from the outside of the bin. “It will be a set of four different lights showing being a fourth full, half, three quarters, and full and then there will be pressure sensors on the inside of the bin,” said Kaitlyn Thede, a junior at Wilton Junior-Senior High School.
“Climbing up and down those ladders is not real safe. You can slip, you can fall. A lot of these bins are awful tall. This can tell you the level of your grain inside the bin just with a visual look, and you don’t have to climb that ladder. It’s a lot safer,” said Bruns.
Wilton Junior and Senior High School FFA teacher Olivia Sippy coached the team for two years. “In Iowa agriculture is the backbone of our state. It’s our culture,” said Sippy.
This will be the seventh time the team has competed at a state level. Team members said there were many challenges during the planning phase but the hard work was worth the effort.
“It’s been a really cool process just from like consulting with the farmers to figure out the problem and trying to figure out how we were going to be able to solve it,” said Lexi Henning, a sophomore FFA member.
FFA students will submit a three-minute video to the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition showcasing their STEM solution for the community issue. Ten finalists will be selected to move on to the next round. Samsung awarded Wilton’s FFA members a technology package of $12,000.
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