Someone in your family loses their hearing aid…again! But it’ no problem, you just print a new one on your 3D printer and life goes on seamlessly. Sound too good to be true? Not for long, in the world envisioned by young scientists who were honored last weekend during the 23^rd annual Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision awards weekend.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), along with Toshiba celebrated the national student winners for their hard work and creative ideas in science and technology. The Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision program challenged participants to imagine what technology might be like in 20 years. Students worked in teams to propose ideas for innovative future technology based on a challenge of what already exists, simulated real scientific research to outline how they planned to test their idea, and built websites to further illustrate and communicate their concepts.

This year, more than 5,000 team projects were entered into the competition representing 15,473 students from across the United States and Canada. First place winning projects included the S.T.A.R. Sea Turtle Assistance Rod (Grade K-3), The Green Tablet (Grade 4-6), Survival of the Freshest: Preservation of Organic Food (Grade 7-9), and Programmable Bio-Scaffolding: The Suture of Future (Grade 10-12). This year’s second place winners were SportaVision (Grade k-3), Clarite- A Better Cochlear Implant (Grade 4-6), Heat Utilizing Hearing Aids (Grade 7-9) and External Microbial Cleansing Device – EMCD (Grade 10-12).

All students from the eight first and second place teams received savings bonds and an exciting expenses-paid trip with their families, mentor and coach to Washington, D.C. Activities included a visit to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress and a Science Showcase where students displayed and demonstrated their winning ideas. The highlight of the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision weekend was the gala awards banquet and ceremony where students were formally recognized for their creativity and accomplishments.

At the STEM Education Science Fair that took place on Thursday in the Rayburn House office Building, finalists showcased their projects to members of Congress and their staff. This informal event provided members of Congress and their staff with the opportunity to see first-hand the benefits and importance of STEM education. The kids loved engaging with these important men and women and were excited to share their ideas and projects. The atmosphere was upbeat and lively; students were even taking selfies with their Congressmen!

The students then attended the Senates STEM Panel and were able to meet with Senators from their home state.

The fun continued on Friday with the National Press Club Science Showcase. You can probably hear the theme song now… because everyone’s favorite man in science, Bill Nye the Science Guy was there! The kids loved meeting him and explaining their projects during the satellite media interviews that were broadcasted in their hometowns. After this, the eight winning teams presented their projects to NSTA leadership and high-level Toshiba executives. In their interaction, many of the Toshiba executives explained their hope that one day these young scientists might join their company!

The Gala Awards Banquet, which took place Friday night, was the pinnacle event. The night started with students being congratulated with a “live broadcast” from Times Square. They also had the incredible opportunity to listen to a past winner from 1998 –Dr. Kim Ly – speak about her experience with the competition; and Bill Nye encouraged them to “change the world.” The students were then welcomed to the stage to individually receive their awards and the night ended with confetti, cannons and music as we celebrated science and innovation.

View our Facebook album to see more, and if you were there and see yourself, please tag yourself.

That’s wrap! We’re ending #ExploraVision weekend with confetti! pic.twitter.com/3MmKIJXEsw

— Toshiba Innovation (@ToshibaInnovate) June 6, 2015

Author Lindsey Reichert works with the National Science Teacher’s Association with the Communications, Legislative, and Public Affairs Team. e-mail her at lreichert@nsta.org.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

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