John Glenn students earn college scholarships and grants for their school during STEM competition

Eight teams of local students from four schools went head-to-head in the 12th annual A.H. Nickless Innovation Award competition event held recently at SVSU. After months of planning, research, and development, Great Lakes Bay Region STEM students presented their projects for a chance at $77,500 in college scholarships and grants. 

The 13- to 18-year-old students shared their solutions for alternative energy, healthcare, science, and technology at the annual event. Since its inception, more than 500 students have presented at the A.H. Nickless Innovation Award competition, which has awarded $763,500 to participants and their schools. 

Three teams of students from Bay City and Saginaw went home with a combined total of $62,500 in prizes: $27,500 in scholarships for themselves and another $35,000 in STEM education grants for their high schools. 

John Glenn High School students, named the STEMatic Trio (Madalyn Hughes, Aubrey Beson, Emma Dabrowski) participated in this year’s competition. Led by coach and science teacher Shawn Maison, two of three students from last year’s third-place team competed again this year. 

Maison looks at the opportunity as a great hands-on, project-based learning experience for students. 

“I like it because it gives students a realistic view of the engineering process, and you have to actually go through a lot of trial and error, and failure in order to reach your goal in the end,” he says. “The kids get to go through that process in a real situation, experience or product they make. They also interact with people in the community, developing those soft skills as well.”

Eleventh grader and team leader Emma Dabrowski spoke about her project’s focus for this year’s competition. 

“Our project is called Hydro-Roofing, so we created water-insulated tiles that would be on your roof. They could insulate your home so that you have to use your heating and cooling less, ultimately helping the environment by lowering your carbon footprint,” she says. 

Dabrowski says she was very excited to enter the competition and be in the fun atmosphere again.

“It gives students an opportunity to engage in STEM and different engineering processes,” she says. 

Bangor Township’s John Glenn High School team received a second-place award for their product, providing $2,500 scholarships for each team member, and a $10,000 STEM education grant for the school.

“Once we got second place, we were all very thrilled and excited because that meant that we got to expand our STEM program here at John Glenn High School, and we additionally got a little bit to help us make it through college,” Dabrowski says. 

Maison hopes the School Board will approve a proposal for a greenhouse addition, with the grant money. Previous award money allowed for a STEM room with 3D printers. 

Dabrowski hopes to major in engineering or entrepreneurship at University of Michigan or Michigan State University, after high school graduation next year. 

Other participants included a first-place team, Altitude Angels and third-place team, The Supporters, from Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy. Freeland High School and Midland High School teams also competed. 

Computer science teacher Robert Fox, from Midland High School, considers the A.H. Nickless Innovation Award “perhaps the most valuable extracurricular activity opportunity to high school students in the Great Lakes Bay Region. 

“To succeed, students must leverage the full diversity of their knowledge and skills to solve a real-world problem,” he says. “Creativity, analytical thinking, perseverance, leadership, collaboration, communication, and research all come together at a high level and in a way that is hard to replicate in a traditional classroom.”