High school students statewide participate in governor's STEM Challenge

A little time “spit-balling ideas” proved to be the perfect way for a group of Sandia High School students to come up with the project idea they showed to judges on Saturday during the New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge.

Their idea, an automated charger for a fleet of self-driving electric taxis, proved to be innovative enough that the 10 students earned $500 each and a sponsorship from Intel, the major computer component manufacturing company with a facility in Rio Rancho.

Sandia sophomore Kingston Dodd said his team was both anxious and confident before the afternoon awards ceremony.

“But as soon as we got called, everything in our chest just dropped,” Dodd said. “Everybody was happy, and I was really excited.”

It was Dodd’s first time at the governor’s STEM Challenge, an annual competition in which high school students use their knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to “build practical solutions” in response to a real-world question, event organizers said in a news release. The event at the University of New Mexico kicked off with a keynote address from Virgin Galactic astronaut Jamila Gilbert, a Las Cruces native, who told students about her May 2023 space mission and imparted some words of advice about seizing challenges.

This year, STEM Challenge organizers called upon students to “(i)dentify a transportation or information technology you need in your home, school, community, or state, and use STEM to develop an innovative solution to meet that need,” according to the release.

On Saturday, with their projects already completed, students from 32 schools throughout the state descended upon the UNM Student Union Building in a science expo-like atmosphere to show 23 judges what they had come up with. The judges, members of industry, from technology companies to colleges and universities, evaluated the projects before deciding which ones to sponsor.

In the end, 26 schools won sponsorships and were awarded $5,000 each. The Albuquerque and Rio Rancho schools that received sponsorships included Axiom Christian Classical School (WSP), The Ask Academy (Wildflower International), South Valley Academy (N3B), Sandia High School (Intel), and V. Sue Cleveland (Century Bank), according to a list of winners provided to the Journal. Gilbert’s Virgin Galactic sponsored Cloudcroft High School, according to a company spokesperson.

Albuquerque Aviation Academy State Charter School, Northpoint Charter School and Technology Leadership High School were local schools that participated in the STEM Challenge but were not awarded a sponsorship.

Reece DeFrees, an engineer for Intel Foundry in Rio Rancho, said the Sandia students’ project was valuable and marketable, and they should get a patent for it.

“(It’s) a forward-looking problem and an optimized solution; those were the two things that really jumped out at us. It’s very innovative.” DeFrees said. “These are problems we are going to have to solve in the future.”

He said Intel’s intent in the near future is to get the Sandia students connected with internships in any state where the company has a presence. But Intel is particularly interested in getting New Mexico students jobs in the state, he said.

Dodd said he believes the STEM Challenge was a “great environment to spread new ideas and network.”

He said he might take the funds he was awarded to save for his dream of going to college at New Mexico Tech — or he might buy an Intel computer.