Students, faculty and staff from Nicholson Elementary have another reason to celebrate now that the school was named a state finalist once again in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.

The school is one of five schools chosen in Mississippi to compete against schools nationwide for a chance to win a share of $2 million in technology. The nationwide contest is designed to encourage teachers and students to solve real-world issues using classroom skills in science, technology, engineering and math, according to samsung.com.

Nicholson Elementary Teacher Olive Zenon, along with her three sixth-grade classes, conducted a shade study to learn how the shade from trees affects playground activities. The study was submitted in the competition.

Zenon said it’s vital to teach kids STEM early on in order to prepare them for the real world.

“We want science to be real for the kids since these are the jobs of the future,” Zenon said.

This isn’t the first time Nicholson Elementary has made headlines in the Samsung competition.

The school was one of the five grand prize winners nationwide in last year’s contest, winning roughly estimated $138,000 in technology and cash for the school. Nicholson Elementary Teacher Maureen Pollitz, along with her gifted sixth-grade students and high school students from the Pearl River County robotics team, created a robot to fix Picayune’s storm drains. The students worked with NASA personnel and Picayune Public Works Director Eric Morris to come up with a solution to unclog the city’s drains.

The school was named a national winner in April. Prizes included Chrome Books, which Pollitz said students are currently using in the classroom.

Pollitz added that she’s proud of Zenon and her students.

Zenon said Pollitz encouraged her to enter the competition this year.

“She’s really led the charge for STEM education. We all want our kids to be able to function in this world and teach them STEM in a real-world setting, so they understand how important it is,” Zenon said.

The five Mississippi schools, including Nicholson, are among the nation’s 255 state finalists in the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow Contest.Each of the state finalists will receive two Samsung Galaxy tablets for the classroom’s use, according to a press release from Samsung.

In order to move to the next step of the competition, teachers from the five state finalist schools will submit a lesson plan outlining how they will address their project with their students.