Samsung announces finalist schools for 2024 Solve for Tomorrow STEM Competition
The country’s most brilliant young minds are preparing for crucial, next prototype development stage in the exhilarating competition.
Samsung has announced the Top 10 Finalist Schools selected from the Top 20 Finalist Schools that attended an extensive six weeks of the most crucial part in the second phase of the Solve for Tomorrow 2024 Competition – the Design Thinking Workshops.
The theme for this year’s competition – ‘Our Environment’, speaks to Samsung’s overall approach to business and commitment to prioritising environmental sustainability as a business imperative. This also aligns perfectly with most of the projects that the learners are undertaking in the competition, which vary from recycling and water purification, to devising ways to conserve limited resources such as electricity and water.
The Design Thinking Workshop stage specifically designed to help both learners and their educators from the 2024 Top 20 Finalist Schools to prepare for the crucial, next prototype development phase enabled some of the country’s most brilliant young minds to refine their ideas and create their paper prototypes. The Top 20 Finalists participated in workshops conducted in conjunction with Samsung mentors at central venues in their provinces. Samsung also sponsored each team with a tablet and data to help them do research and communicate effectively with their mentors.
The provinces that participated included Gauteng with (8 semi-finalists), Limpopo (3), Free State (4), KwaZulu-Natal (3), Eastern Cape (1) and Mpumalanga (1). The second stage, which included intensive mentorship sessions and engagement with the teams from the participating schools, has allowed the judges to determine which schools had the best paper prototypes – good enough to make it to the Top 10 Finalist Schools that can now compete for the ultimate prize.
The Top 10 Finalist Schools in Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow competition are now in a race against time to complete their solutions in a critical, next prototype development phase of the nationwide challenge. This involves creating physical prototypes to solve the various environmental challenges that the learners identified in their respective communities. Samsung is enabling these learners by giving them funding for their actual prototypes.
Here are the Top 10 schools that have been selected:
| School Name | Province |
| 1) NM Tsuene Secondary School | Gauteng |
| 2) Adams College | Kwa-Zulu Natal |
| 3) Mandisa Shiceka Maths and Science Schoo | Gauteng |
| 4) Umlazi Comprehensive Technical School | Kwa-Zulu Natal |
| 5) Maphuthaditshaba Secondary School | Mpumalanga |
| 6) Khwezi Lomso Comprehensive School | Eastern Cape |
| 7) Thengwe High School | Limpopo |
| 8) Buhlebemfundo Secondary School | Gauteng |
| 9) Mbilwi Secondary School | Limpopo |
| 10) Moyaneng Secondary School | Limpopo |
The final stage of the competition will be an opportunity for each school to present the physical prototype of their solution to a panel of judges with the potential to win STEM equipment for their schools worth R100 000 (1st place), R50 000 or R30 000 (2nd and 3rd places respectively). In addition to the main prizes, each of the learners in the top three teams will be rewarded with a Samsung device.
Lenhle Khoza, Manager for BBBEE and Transformation at Samsung South Africa said: “We are exceptionally proud of all the schools that participated this year as well as those that made it to the Top 20. Now, we would like to congratulate the Top 10 Finalist Schools for making it this far.
“The rigorous process that these schools went through and the amazing ideas that came out of it, is a clear indication of just how brilliant the learners for this year are. We would like to wish the schools moving to the crucial next phase, all the best and would like to re-affirm our commitment in helping them reach their ultimate goals.”
