{"id":24419,"date":"2024-12-13T16:12:22","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T23:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-an-app-that-tracks-foodborne-illnesses-may-impact-an-entire-middle-school\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:53:10","slug":"how-an-app-that-tracks-foodborne-illnesses-may-impact-an-entire-middle-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/how-an-app-that-tracks-foodborne-illnesses-may-impact-an-entire-middle-school\/","title":{"rendered":"How an app that tracks foodborne illnesses may impact an entire middle school"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Mesa
Mesa View Middle School was selected among 300 public schools to compete in the 15th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition, which requires students to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In announcing the selection of 300 public schools in the 15th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition, Mesa View Middle School was among six New Mexico schools to be selected to compete for the chance to receive technology packs and money for their school.<\/p>\n

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a national competition designed to empower students in grades 6-12 in using STEM to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe competition engages these Gen Z and Gen Alpha students in active, hands-on learning that can be applied to real-world problems \u2013 making STEM more tangible and showcasing its value both in and outside of the classroom,\u201d said a news release<\/a> from Samsung.<\/p>\n

According to the release, 60% of student STEM solutions are using emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, 3D printing, and robotics.<\/p>\n

Entries are highlighting common student concerns across the nation such as the climate crisis, mental health and wellness, and school safety.<\/p>\n

State finalists will be rewarded a $2,500 technology prize pack for their school as they advance to the next phase in April with the chance of being selected as a national winner with a $100,000 prize package.<\/p>\n

The competition comes with several stages of possible winnings, including a Sustainability Innovation Award and a Rising Entrepreneurship Award, both awarding $25,000 to schools in technology and STEM development.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy promoting active, hands-on learning, Solve for Tomorrow makes STEM more tangible for young learners, and opens doors to future opportunities in STEM education and careers,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n

\n

State finalists<\/h4>\n

Espa\u00f1ola Valley High School, Espa\u00f1ola. Mesa View Middle School, Farmington. Santa Rosa High School, Santa Rosa. TAOS Academy, Taos. Tohatchi High School, Tohatchi. Tucumcari Public Schools, Tucumcari.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A gut wrenching app<\/div>\n

At Mesa View, Jenn Carlson, computer science teacher, has history with STEM competitions and learned about the Samsung opportunity through a Google alert.<\/p>\n

Carlson said the idea behind developing an app with students came from a former competition, Technovation, that she participated in while teaching in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

In looking at the requirement to develop a solution to their community, three students decided on an app that would allow users to report foodborne illness from the comfort of their bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a weird concept, but when you actually look in 2021 only 7,500 cases of food poisoning were reported in our entire country,\u201d Carlson said. \u201cIt\u2019s gone down like 70% since 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that decrease could be the time it takes to report food problems with the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Carlson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s 72 hours worth of your life you have to go back and track and so nobody does it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A tutoring app was initially brainstormed; however, the team found that there was an oversaturation of those being offered, according to Carlson.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked about health, safety and security and housing,\u201d she said. \u201cI showed them the United Nations Sustainable goals list and said, \u2018How do we relate these to our community?\u2019 and they wanted to do something with health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jenn
Jenn Carlson, computer science teacher, is developing an app for foodborne illnesses with students at Mesa View Middle School after being named state finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow STEM competition. (Courtesy Jenn Carlson)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A team of three, with an eighth grader and two sixth graders, are taking different components of the project.<\/p>\n

The students will meet every week to develop their project that will require coding, creating an interface and creating a pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my kiddos wants to do all the creative piece of it, one of them wants to do the coding, and the other one wants to script it out and be our director,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of little moving pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students are expected to speak with an public health researcher at the New Mexico Department of Health to speak about the fields they will need to include on the form, Carlson said.<\/p>\n

The students will also interview a hotline representative from the Department of Health, according to Carlson.<\/p>\n

Carlson said the students are ready for the work and did not have any disagreement in fulfilling their roles when it came to the project.<\/p>\n

A tech future for Mesa View<\/div>\n

At the national level, three winners will receive $100,000. Should the students reach that level, Cody Green, principal, said it would mean further developing the technology and programs Carlson has run for the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have my sights set on turning my other classroom into an actual, like permanent recording studio with audio and everything,\u201d Carlson said.<\/p>\n

Carlson teaches a computer basics program, digital media and coding that are still in the developing stages, Green said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where we hope that it\u2019ll be able to build and grow that interest even more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Carlson said she has seen the interest come from word-of-mouth as students share their projects with their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interest is bubbling,\u201d she said \u201cThey see what\u2019s happening, and they see the drones and the robots, and they\u2019re like, let me get in there \u2013 what sixth grade boy doesn\u2019t love a robot?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

challenge encourages community mindset from students <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,155,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-education","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78526,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24419\/revisions\/78526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24419"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}