SCRANTON – Catholic school students from across the Diocese of Scranton were honored for their innovation and imagination April 24 as the inaugural ‘Living the STREAM’ competition concluded.
The Diocese of Scranton Catholic School fundraising competition began during Catholic Schools Week in January. It brought together students in grades 6 through 8 daring them to “dream big,” using their STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts and Math) education to combat a “real-world challenge.”
The students could tackle any topic of interest to their team. They then created a video that was posted on a special website, and the public was able to support each team with donations. The final projects focused on varying issues that included everything from homelessness to food insecurity.
Between sponsorships and donations, more than $55,000 was raised.
On the day the competition ended, more than 100 students and parents gathered in the Diocesan Pastoral Center to celebrate the fundraiser. Awards for the top fundraising teams, along with awards for the best overall project, innovation, and faith in action also were distributed.
One team taking home an award was “Team HandiMaps” from Good Shepherd Academy in Kingston.
Mason Williams, Caden Moreck, Nick Pokrifka, Troy Miller, and Daniel Saporito – eighth grade students – focused on creating a website that features maps of regional destinations accessible to disabled people.
Miller said the HandiMaps project was more fun than a traditional school assignment because they could be as creative as they wanted and pick the topic.
“Making the website and generating it was really exciting and fun to do with my classmates,” Miller said.
While all the students in their group brainstormed ideas to tackle, Miller gave credit to Mason Williams for developing the overall ‘Team HandiMaps’ idea.
“At home one night, I was thinking, what can we do to help people near us,” Williams explained.
After deciding on wanting to help individuals who rely on wheelchairs, the group then needed to research what businesses and locations in their community were handicap accessible and create an overall website and several interactive maps.
“We wanted to make it the best we could to help,” he added. “It could get bigger and bigger. We can make it throughout bigger areas and help people know the places they can go.”
Another team that took home an overall award and future innovators award was ‘Team F.Red’ from Saint Mary of Mount Carmel School in Dunmore.
Five seventh graders – Tim Polishan, Patrick Burke, Jaxon Urban, Michael Lalli, and Quinn Kelly – created a food redistribution app to cut down on food waste.
“We just brainstormed a lot and thought out all of our ideas,” Polishan said.
“The first idea we had was about food and how much food was wasted so we wanted to build on that idea,” Burke added.
Kelly said being recognized as a top team meant a lot to their group.
“We put in a lot of work for this, it took a lot of time,” he explained.
The students are hopeful the app they created could help connect local stores with food pantries to help provide the needy fresh produce.
“That would be pretty cool if it was turned into a real thing,” Lalli said.
“I’m hoping it becomes a real thing that people can use,” Urban added.