Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Students at San Jon High School earlier this month were among the winners of the New Mexico Governor’s STEM Challenge for the second straight year.
San Jon juniors Saisravya Bandla and Jenna Lopez, sponsored by San Jon math teacher Raj Bandla and science teacher Sharla Rusk, designed a solar-powered recycling device that electronically sorts aluminum cans and dispenses coins to donors. Saisravya is Bandla’s daughter.
A total of 33 high-school teams competed in the contest. Eighteen teams, including San Jon’s, were declared winners. Each student on a winning team took home $500 from STEM employers. San Jon’s sponsor was Boeing.
The annual STEM Challenge, which tests students’ ability to use science, technology, engineering and math to solve real-world problems, was held virtually Dec. 12 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was a collaboration between New Mexico State University, Department of Public Education, Department of Workforce Solutions, Los Alamos National Laboratory and 18 other STEM employers in the state.
Teams were confronted with this premise from NMSU two months before formulating their project entries: “How can you combine New Mexico’s natural resources with technology to address regional/global needs?”
Bandla said his students bounced around a lot of ideas before settling on one.
“We had a lot of discussions about the questions and which project we want to start with,” he said. “They came up with the idea on the lack of recycling opportunities in small communities.”
“Our advice was to pick something that is impactful for people and not just fun for them to design and could accomplish with the resources we have,” Rusk said. “We are from a small district, so it had to be feasible financially.”
The two students came up with the Alkan-27 device. Its name partly derives from aluminum’s relative atomic mass in the periodic table. The San Jon squad called itself Team R3Al, with the three R’s standing for “reduce, reuse, recycle.”
The team noted in its research that U.S. recycling rates of aluminum was 65%, low compared to other countries. The students also surveyed 100 random people and found 51% did not recycle.
Saisravya’s responsibility was to construct the Alkan-27, complete the proposal packet and execute the survey. Lopez’s duty was coming up with ways to improve and assist in the design and help gather materials. She also helped execute the survey and tally the results.
The team considered two ideas to boost aluminum recycling. Chosen was the Alkan-27, a device that uses solar energy and acts as a place for people to deposit aluminum cans and receive a payment for them. The team estimated the device would cost only $160 to make.
Bandla said the team also received aid from computer coder Creighton Edington of Albuquerque; community members Annie McCauley and Frank and Misti Gibson; school superintendent Janet Gladu, administrative assistant Stacy Kent, school librarian Jatawn Wright; and the San Jon community.
Last year, San Jon was one of the winning teams at the STEM Challenge by designing a device that prevents accidental leaks from water hoses.
Bandla noted San Jon competed against larger schools during the STEM Challenge. Teams could have up to 10 members each.
“They’re really, really smart, very talented students,” Rusk said of the two San Jon students, “and we’re really fortunate to have them.”