What began as a class project for two Montwood High School students has been transformed into a promising initiative with the potential to enhance women's health.
Seniors Luciana Gavaldon and Nevaeh Alexis Hernandez developed a proposal to create a cost-effective feminine hygiene product that would use chemical analyses to diagnose urinary tract infections (UTIs) and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in women. Their product, called FloraCycle, would aim to help low-income women effectively monitor their health and make informed decisions about when to seek medical assistance.
In January, their impressive project proposal was selected as one of the 10 finalists in Texas, and the only one in El Paso, for the prestigious 15th Annual Samsung Solve for Tomorrow national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) competition. They received a $2,500 Samsung technology prize package.
"At first, it was just all theoretical, and now we're really looking behind the science, like, how it'll work and what we can do to fix it or make it even better," said Gavaldon, who is in the school’s SYNERGI4 STEM program and plans to become a nurse. She is determined to see their product on store shelves one day.
Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a nationwide competition designed to empower students in grades 6–12 to leverage the power of STEM to create innovative solutions addressing critical issues in their local communities.
In their biomedical science class, students presented ideas for developing various STEM-related products to address local challenges. The class voted and selected the best project to submit to the Samsung competition.
Hernandez, a student in Rams Early College High School, said she was pleasantly surprised when their idea for a tampon that tested for UTIs and STDs was chosen, especially since talking about feminine hygiene products can make some people uncomfortable.
"We didn't think we were going to win because, like, when the topic comes up of menstrual cycles or feminine hygiene, people kind of shy away from it," Hernandez said. "So, the fact that they wanted to learn more about the idea that we had is really exciting because nobody ever wants to know about tampons or how, like, it works."
Science teacher Tabatha Schacht, the school’s biomedical lead, said what she liked about the FloraCycle project was that it was achievable. She looked forward to developing relationships with experts at the University of Texas at El Paso, who could help advance the chemical analysis of the tampon. In theory, the tampon would screen for antibodies related to HIV, chlamydia, syphilis and UTIs and change color if any of these infections were detected.
“What I'm really excited about this project is that it's actually a pretty simplistic innovation that we can actually do,” Schacht said.
She also enjoyed watching her students become enthusiastic about the possibility of their projects being entered into the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest.
“What I really liked for this year is since it was a little competition within the classes, the kids got really into the project. They really did a lot of research and it just kind of helped them start off and know what it is to do research at the scientific level,” Schacht said.
For Hernandez, raising awareness about women’s health issues was just as rewarding as becoming state finalists.
“Being able to safely reproduce and just take care of our bodies in general, is super important,” said Hernandez, who plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree in nursing after graduating in June. “In El Paso, 11.5% of women are low income, and 20% can't afford healthcare providers, and they don't have health insurance. So, making sure that we have a product out there that can help women is super important.”