Local Students Shine at STLP State Championship
Deidra Bowling-Meade
Ashland Beacon
Two local schools dominated the Kentucky K-12 Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) State Championship that was held Wednesday, April 19th, at the Lexington Central Bank Center & Rupp Arena. Summit Elementary School in Boyd County Schools District and Ashland Middle School in Ashland Independent Schools District both brought home 1st place trophies, which earned them a spot to compete nationally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the International Society for Technology in Education.
Over 13,000 Kentucky K-12 students and over 3,000 adults were in attendance. According to David Couch, who is the Associate Commissioner, KY K-12 EdTech Leader & Chief Information Officer, this is the largest number of KY K-12 students that have been part of any state-wide academic, club or sports event/competition. Couch explained the importance of the STLP program, “STLP starts at the earliest grades at the elementary school level and goes all the way through 12th grade. Kentucky K-12 has the biggest and best STLP of its kind in the nation. STLP is not a science fair or a club. It’s much more than that. STLP designs, creates and operates technology enabled products and services for their fellow students, teachers, school, district and community. It is project-based learning of the best and most meaningful kind. We have close to 60,000 KY K-12 students that are part of STLP.” At the STLP State Championship, there were 2,500 KY K-12 EdTech projects/initiatives/inventions. From that group, the competition was narrowed to identifying the top 90, then Terrific Top 20, then Elite Eight and then 4 KY K-12 state school project champions.
Summit Elementary School’s team known as the Math Cats represented the elementary school that took home the first-place victory. Letitia Rudie, who is the librarian at Summit Elementary and the STLP coach, worked with students Carson Holbrook, Eli Slone, Ben Smith, and Declan Ward. Rudie explained the students’ project: “I have worked with these boys the past two years as STLP students, so this project was two years in the making. The Math Cats took their interest in coding games to create over a dozen games using the Scratch coding website to help students learn math. Each game focused on a set of multiplication tables, ones through twelves, and each game had a different theme. They went into classrooms and shared the games with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders at our school. They wanted to have more of an impact, so they emailed teachers in two other districts that I know and asked if they would care to share the games with their students. In total, they shared their games with six elementaries in three districts.”
Fifth grader Carson Holbrook, who is part of the Math Cats, shared his experience competing in STLP, “ After competing locally with other schools, we were told that we had the chance to go to Rupp Arena and compete against hundreds of other teams from Kentucky. I was really excited! My team was proud of all of the hard work we put into our project! It was super exciting when we made it past the 2nd round and into the third and final round of judging in Lexington. When it was announced that our team was the state STLP Elementary Champion, I went through a lot of emotions: disbelief, total shock, happiness, and of course--excitement. My favorite part was working with my friends and seeing other students' excitement when playing our games at the competitions locally and at state; it proved to us that our project was helpful and enjoyable.”
Rudie praised the team, “These students took true ownership of this project, displayed an amazing work ethic, and honed 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking. Winning the state championship is a major accomplishment, and I couldn't be prouder of them.”
Ashland Middle School was the middle school who took home first place after competing against 635 state projects. The students who competed included: Lyric McKeand, Kirk Walker, Brandon Mefford, Jaden Hall, Christian Morales, and Emmanuel Aguilar. Ashland Middle School’s STLP has been led by teacher Mark Harmon for the last four years. Harmon works with the students 45 minutes every day. They are assistants during one of his classes and work on their project during that time. David Sparks serves as co-coordinator. They also worked with Mike Polley from ACTC. He is the Computer Aided Drafting and Design program coordinator. He gave the students feedback on how to improve their initial design.
Harmon described the project created by the team, “The students developed a school safety system that addresses the urgent need for enhanced security in educational institutions. Their project features an emergency notification device, which streamlines the lockdown process, and a barricade system designed to protect students and staff. The notification device allows a school-wide lockdown to be initiated from any classroom with the push of a button. Once activated, this device sends a wireless signal to surrounding classrooms that sound an alarm. Their barricade system allows a classroom door to be reinforced with three steel rods that go into the door frame to increase classroom fortification. This device differs from most on the market because it allows police to override the lock from outside the room after the event has ended or if the perpetrator has barricaded his/her self in the room. During the development process, students developed multiple prototypes and collaborated with their school resource officer, school administrators, and the Computer Aided Drafting and Design program at the Ashland Community and Technical College.”
The team all reacted with excitement over their state championship.
Lyric McKeand never doubted the team’s ability, “Our project was strong, so I knew we were going to win from the very beginning.”
Jaden Hall remarked, “I still can’t fully comprehend that we are the state champs of ALL of Kentucky.”
Emmanuel Aguilar commented, “When I was on stage, I looked around and we were the only middle school left. I was shocked when I realized we were going to win the title of state champion.”
Christian Morales was also surprised, “I can’t believe we were named state champs!”
Brandon Mefford exclaimed, “STLP was fun, and I can’t wait to go to Philadelphia!”
Kirk Walker agreed, “STLP was a great experience, and I am very happy to be a state champion.”
This was a wonderful opportunity for these students. Harmon shared his thoughts about this group and the work they put in, “This is a tremendous group of students. They are very mature for their age. The problem that they chose to address was a very serious topic, and they approached it that way. Rather than assuming they had all the answers, they worked with experts and really took their life experiences and feedback to heart. I could not be more proud of them and the work they’ve done. Furthermore, I am extremely appreciative of the Ashland community. They always go above and beyond when asked to work with our students. Our STEM program has been extremely successful the last several years and it wouldn’t have been possible without their support and assistance.”
Several local schools competed at this year’s competition. The individual and team state champions in other categories can be found on the STLP website at: https://stlp.education.ky.gov.
STLP truly changes the lives of students for the better. The program has positively impacted several local schools within our area. Ashland Middle School has proudly represented our area as state champions three out of the four years Harmon has been in charge of STLP. While the titles are rewarding, the program builds true student leaders who are wanting to solve today’s problems with their technology skills. Ashland Middle School student Christian Morales declared, “Being a part of the middle school STLP team was the best decision I’ve made this year.”
Summit Elementary’s Carson Holbrook concurred that STLP is enjoyable and something worth participating in for the future, “I will definitely be continuing to learn and develop with STLP in middle school and high school.”
Be on the lookout for wonderful yearly technology projects created by local students. Special thanks to all the local schools who have STLP opportunities and take time to advance the knowledge, skills and excitement of students through technology. Best of luck to Summit Elementary School and Ashland Middle School as you compete nationally this summer!
