Two of our very own Knights, Pranav Dubagunta and Farhan Tahsin, became state finalists for the Samsung Build for Tomorrow competition, an annual competition in which public schools develop solutions which bring positive change regarding social change. I was given the opportunity to interview Pranav and Farhan about the event, whose design they created involved developing a web app.

Pranav explained that “With diminishing affordability of fresh produce and thin profit margins in the grocery industry, one out of every six Phoenix residents now resides in a desert lacking easy access to a supermarket within 0.5 miles for urban citizens or 10 miles for rural citizens. To combat the dangerous ‘drought’, we are creating a web app for efficient local order aggregation, akin to a GPO, reducing geographic diversity and simplifying the sales process, that targets apartment buildings, simplifies sales, and entices suppliers to join the direct-to-customer business. It uses a ‘variance clause’ and IoT devices such as Raspberry Pi, camera or ML for order predictability, reducing costs.”

Farhan chose to solve this particular problem because of “the substantial rise in food prices since 2020, driven by a combination of inflation, pandemic-related supply-chain disruptions, and tariffs on certain foreign imports that has had a profound impact on food affordability. Among the hardest-hit regions, Phoenix stood out, experiencing a staggering increase of over 20% in grocery prices within the metropolitan area. We thought it was the most pressing issue of our community, the issue being food security, or the lack of it.” As for how he feels having won the award, Farhan noted that they “spent a lot of time over winter break discussing the nuances of the idea, articulating it into words and condensing it, so we’re pretty thrilled to have won the state finalist award. Becoming a state finalist was already a tremendous achievement for us, but we’re also delighted to know that our efforts can help the school and students with the $2500 prize package.” They both chose to participate in the competition because they felt that “Samsung’s Innovation Challenge was more focused on community based problems, and in the past had successfully promoted successful designs at a high level.” We hope that Farhan and Pranav succeed in becoming state winners. They are amazing examples of how students can help bring a positive change to their community. Go Knights!