Academy at Palumbo team wins $140k in national science contest – out of 2,300 schools

The Academy at Palumbo magnet high school at 11th and Catharine streets will soon be getting $140,000 worth of new technology after a project by a team of students was chosen as one of five winners out of more than 2,300 schools nationwide.

Students learned they had won yesterday at an assembly, reports the Inquirer. Says the paper:

The team, made up of about 15 students and two teachers, used South Philadelphia crime data to create an algorithm mapping out the safest walking route from one location to another. … The algorithm assigns blocks around Palumbo a value from one to five. Numbers are based on the history of crime in the area. A street that has seen a recent shooting, for example, would be assigned a 5, while a street that has seen no recent reported incidents would be assigned a 1. The lower the value, the safer the street.

We last wrote about Palumbo when physics teacher Klint Kanopka, who helped the students in the winning project, was raising money for a 3-D printer for a student maker studio. That project was funded, and now the school is going to be flush with tech.

The whole story is worth a read, so check it out here.