Princeton High Students Win $110K For Project Combating Food Waste

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton High School Students, who were finalists in the 12th annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest, were named national winners on Tuesday.

This comes after months of hard work on their sustainability project. The students won $110,000 for their school.

The project involved using the black soldier fly to address food waste and combat greenhouse gas emissions in local landfills. In the process they created usable products like animal feed and soap made out of bug oil. Read More: Princeton High Students Use Bugs To Combat Food Waste, Make Soap

They were named national finalists in March and won $50,000 for their project. Read More: Princeton High's Food Waste Project Is Now A National Finalist

On Monday, students presented their project to a group of judges in New York, alongside nine other finalists.

"The moments leading up to the final national winner being announced were tense and I remember holding my breath,” said Ngan Le, a junior. “When our video showed up on the screen and I heard my voice, I felt overwhelmed with a sense of pride and accomplishment. Our hard work and dedication, shown through long hours in class and after school, has finally blossomed.”

The project began in late 2019 and early 2020 when Sharon Eastburn, a junior, was working on a project to address food waste. Sharon and fellow student Matthew Livingston were trying to find different ways to address the issue when they discovered that black soldier fly larvae were able to break down organic waste.

Livingston said he felt “immense anticipation” before the winner was announced. "The feeling was just very surreal. It was a lot to take in, but in the best way possible,” Livingston said.

“As for next steps I’ll personally be graduating this year and moving onto college for food science but I’d love to keep supporting the team in any way I can, and I may even become a Samsung alumni mentor myself."

The project brought together more than 15 students from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics streams to collaborate. They even created a video for the national competition.

“This experience really shows how students who are given the opportunity to follow their passions can do incredible things. When watching the students speak over the last three days, it was clear that they believed in their project and the immense possibilities that science, collaboration and creativity can provide,” said, Jacqueline Katz, one of the teachers who worked with students on the project. “I am so proud of the students who presented and the entire team at PHS."

Throughout the project, students were guided by Mark Eastburn of Princeton High School's research program. Eastburn was “heartened” to see students from different backgrounds involved in the development and implementation of the project.

"This includes our English-Language Learners, many of whom have recently arrived from around the globe, and students who have spent their entire academic careers in Princeton. Students come from all socioeconomic levels, and I see that this has given everyone new ways to work together for the benefit of our wider community,” Eastburn told Patch.

“As our township does not currently have a food waste collection or recycling program, we see definite opportunities for growth in developing sustainable products that we hope to sell locally, online, and share with communities in diverse locations around the world.”

Students plan to use the $110,000 they won to increase accessibility for future STEM research projects, emphasizing real-world solutions through collaboration.

“We hope to further scale up the project to make our Bug-A-Low bioreactor available to households globally and transform industries for grand-scale sustainable impact with black soldier flies," Le said.

Thank you for reading. Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com

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