SPRAYBERRY’S STEM ACADEMY STUDENTS WIN BIG AT WORLDWIDE PLANT COMPETITION

By Adam Darby

Placing high in a state or national science competition is no simple task. It takes a dedicated team working closely together with patience and precision. But winning an entire competition on an international level is a completely different story!

Sprayberry High School’s STEM Academy students recently took home first prize at the Plant Mars Challenge, an international competition sponsored by NASA testing young scientists on their ability to grow and sustain crops in Martian soil. The realistic simulation challenges science teams to work as a unit against others from across the globe to see who can successfully grow the best crops. This marks the first time the school’s academy has been honored with this achievement.

“The victory feels amazing! I am so proud of my students and for their accomplishments to be showcased like this is a dream come true,” said Todd Hefflinger, the Assistant STEM Academy Coordinator and the team’s lead coach for the challenge. “I absolutely love Sprayberry and it feels so good to see my kids recognized for their incredible talents.”

Serving as one of the highest-level competitions in which the STEM students participate, the school’s STEM Academy has participated in the Plant Mars Challenge for the last two years. They received financial aid for their research and experimentation through a $10,000 grant from Cobb Tank that they won last November.

From there, the students received a soil simulant package from the University of Central Florida’s CLASS

Exolith Laboratory provided to each team taking part in the comprehensive competition. Teams are responsible for defining their own experiment parameters when developing their growth strategy.

“We submit an initial experimental design at the beginning of the season to NASA that lays out our experimental goals and the parameters in which we plan to grow our crops,” Hefflinger said. “From there, we have to submit two video updates…the final report we submit is a lengthy scientific paper that details our findings and is written in a similar fashion to a scientific journal article.”

Each season, a leadership team oversees the implementation of the experiment while training future team leads for the following season. The students decided to use the unique approach of harvesting beans grown in Mars soil and utilizing those seeds to grow a second generation of crops. This distinct approach of generational crop growth won Sprayberry the Most Innovative Experimental Design Award.

“While the competition itself is quite straightforward, there is a lot of freedom for our students to sharpen a broad range of scientific and engineering skills within its parameters. We also use the challenge as a vehicle to sharpen our students leadership skills,” Hefflinger said. “Our entire community has been so supportive and happy for us. The level of support has been truly overwhelming.”

To learn more about Sprayberry High School’s STEM Scholar Academy and their various achievements, visit their website at www.SprayberrySTEM.com.