STLP stands for Student Technology Leadership Program.
"We get together and talk about ways that we can kind of help our school or our community through technology," said Heather Moore-Frame, Catlettsburg Elementary STLP coach and Library Media Specialist.
Approximately 14,000 attended the event with 471 schools from 104 districts across the state, according to numbers from Shane Jordan, Russell-McDowell Intermediate School STEAM lab teacher and STLP coach.
"It's probably one of the best programs. Kentucky has the only program like that in the country," said Missy Murray, Russell Middle and High School STLP coach.
Students filled the arena on the University of Kentucky campus to show off their tech skills in three categories — projects, digital products and challenges.
Two local schools took home Best Project in Ky. awards for their grade levels. Russell-McDowell Intermediate School snagged the K-5 award and Ashland Middle School brought home the 6-8 award.
The Russell- McDowell students owns the award with their project entitled "Building Background on the Greenup County War Memorial" The team included three students, Xander Everman, Jimmylee Mullins and Zaina Razak.
The students built a website to give information on the equipment displayed at the memorial. A page was created for each piece. The students partnered with community members and others in their district to make the project happen.
Jordan said the students showed great maturity throughout the process. They pitched their idea over Zoom at a regional competition. They interviewed Ernie West's daughter, Mrs. West Hogsett, said Jordan. The trio were questioned and interviewed by many judges throughout the process and the day at Rupp. Jordan said they didn't get nervous, they were mature and represented themselves and the school very well.
Razak, Mullins and Everman partnered with the high school welding class to create aluminum stands to go beside the displays, said Jordan. The aluminum stands were taken to Greta Casto, Russell Independent's Chief Information Officer, who engraved QR codes into epoxy using a Glow Forge. Jordan said just a few more stands are left to be finished and placed at the memorial.
Ashland Middle School's STEM Squad was awarded the top honor for their "Helping those in Need" project. The project is an extension of the work they did to be state champions in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.
"My students developed an in-home assistant to help people with Alzheimer's disease," said Mark Harmon, AMS STLP coach and teacher. "Their system helps remind the patient of important events, allows loved ones to easily check-in, and provides an AI voice assistant to help with daily tasks.
The students defied expectations and showed resilience in the process.
"Going into the project, I thought their aspirations may have been a little too lofty, however, they were continually able to meet them," said Harmon. "It was truly impressive how when faced with adversity, they just kept moving forward and overcoming obstacles."
The squad is made up of Caroline Yates, Reagan Hayes, Zac Johnson, Kahlil Ealey, Carter Williams, Caden Ferguson, Rylee Layman-Bohanon, Ryder Phillips, Ryder Prickett, Luke Corliss, Jonah Francis, Caity Pierce, Lesly Reyes, Cam Davis and Caleb Conway.
Another trio of Ashland Middle School students brought home a different state championship from Lexington. Ben Harrison, Caity Pierce and Tanner Christian won first place in a challenge. They won the University of Kentucky College of Engineering: Minds on Innovation competition.
They designed a seat belt cover to help prevent burns from seat belt buckles to children during the hot summer months, Harmon said.
Russell High School grabbed a number of honors. A number of the projects have been long-term projects for the students. Murray said teams work on some of the projects for four years and take their progress back to state each year.
"It gives them a sense of ownership," said Murray. "It gives them something to work for, to work toward, it gives them the critical thinking skills to get to go out and work with people meet their needs, and go back and revise what they've done to make it better. They're getting leadership, they have spoken at conferences."
Russell High School did this with its VREd: Bringing the World to Your Classroom. They were named Best in Group for level 2. The group worked to bring virtual reality to class. The team includes Arnav Dharmagadda, Ashlee Steele, Morgan Clifton and Brody Kilburn.
Murray said the students are working with teachers in the district to bring custom virtual reality to the classroom. They built their own VR goggles and have received an $8,000 grant for materials through the Kentucky Society for Technology and Education, said Murray,
Dharmagadda took three digital product awards home. He was first in the 9-12 Augmented Reality for his project entitled "Volume Visualization," in the 9-12 ePublishing category for his VR in the Classroom and in the 9-12 Multimedia Mashup for his project on colors.
Aly Hurst and Beth Allen were second place in the 9-12 Game Design Challenge. Christopher Conley was first in the 9-12 Sumo Bots Challenge. Delaney Hetzer won the KySTE STLP Scholarship, which is a $1,000 scholarship that recognizes seniors who demonstrate outstanding achievement and leadership in technology, according to the STLP website
Charles Russell Elementary School had two teams bring home awards.
Alex Dillon, Sylar Gray, Ben Sammons and Ciara McCall won first place in K-5 Augmented Reality for their Augmented Library. Shiela Meade, Library Media Specialist at Charles Russell shared that the project will be used in the future to help other students learn about the Dewey Decimal System.
The students created a system that filed photos and information under each section of the Dewey Decimal System that can be accessed when using the virtual reality system in the library.
"I'm hoping that this will inspire them, encourage them" to pursue technology-based careers and projects in middle school, said Meade. "Some of the have a very eye for design. That really gives them a creative outlet to be able to just create from scratch."
Charles Russell students took first in the K-5 RCX: RoboChallenge Xtreme. Chyanne Chavez, Adara Crawford, Ramandeep Shipley, Sebastian Tibbitts built a robot and completed missions. The theme was Chicago's best sights, said Mike Brown, the team's STLP coach.
The tea took their robot through 12 different missions. They had to maneuver a bus around the different sites, they went sight-seeing in Chicago, they had to deliver windmill blades to a site and place a helicopter on a helipad, explained Brown. Each mission was given a point value, and the students won the tournament.
Two Boyd County elementary schools won challenges as well.
Alexus Sparks and Braden Gillum won the K-5 Sphere Hero Challenge. Sparks was the author of the story and Gillum programmed the robot. The two worked to take the students through the story, said Leticia Rudie, Summit Library Media Specialist. They had to have a color change, a level change and other required elements.
The duo had their robot jump off a parking garage and crush the villain of the story, said Rudie. They had apartment buildings, roads and more that they had built for the project.
"They're learning those real-world skills," said Rudie of the program. "We call it the four C's — communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity."
Catlettsburg Elementary students won the K-5 Bench Challenge. Tristan Take and Brandon Smith were signed up by coach Heather Moore-Frame. She said she wanted to give them a new experience and get them excited for the competition.
The two had to take a test about the parts of the computer. Moore-Frame said the two came back and said it was hard. She was proud of them for doing their best, and giving it a shot. They found out they had made it to the next step. They had to go and take a laptop apart and put it back together. It was a challenge, they told Moore-Frame.
She shared that she was proud of the two students for trying. They shifted their focus back to other projects they had to present to the judges. They didn't have the highest expectations, they had never done anything like the challenge. However, they came in first place.
"In this day and time, the value is just beyond measurable," said Moore-Frame of the program's benefits.
©2022 The Daily Independent (Ashland, Ky.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
