Bay Area tech students create gunshot detector to help save lives during school shootings
Bay Area high school students innovate safety system in the face of school shootings
Local high school students from the Bay Area have created a device that detects gunshots at schools and then sends out text message alerts. Education Week says since May there have been 24 school shootings in the U.S. that involved injuries and death. The students said they created this safety system based on their own experiences in lockdown.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - A group of Bay Area high school students are being recognized for creating a device that will detect gunshots in schools and send out alerts.
Education Week says since May of this year, there have been 24 school shootings in this country that have caused injuries or death. They say they created the device after their own experiences with being on emergency lock down at school, and they believe can help save students’ lives.
"We’ve all experienced school shooting scares at our high schools. So it was kind of a no-brainer to approach a problem like this," said Caitlin Ngyuen, from Santa Clara High School.
Caitlin Ngyuen, Swarnya Srivastava, Audrey Wang and Rebecca Wang all attend different high schools throughout the Bay Area but after meeting at local tech competitions, they started working on a new project.
"This outer casing is 3-D printed. It holds a microphone right here that captures the surrounding audio to determine whether there’s been a gunshot or not. Data from the microphone goes inside our motherboard right here, where it processes the data to determine whether there’s been a gun shot," Nguyen said.
When gunshots are detected, a text message is sent to students and staff with the location, based on which sensor is triggered on campus. Police will also receive an automated phone call with the information. The team says it spent about $90 creating this prototype. Some parents in San Jose met with district leaders last month to voice their concerns after multiple emergency lockdown situations, and a ghost gun being confiscated at Willow Glen High School.
"Our goal really was to make it so that it’s something not noticeable and doesn’t interfere with the regular school day. Smoke detectors are everywhere but no one really notices them, and they don’t get in the way of anything," said Swarnya Srivastava, from Monta Vista High School in Cupertino.
Parents in San Jose met with district leaders last month to voice their concerns after multiple emergency lockdown situations, and a ghost gun being confiscated at Willow Glen High School. Meanwhile, the team has been contemplating their next move after entering their project in NASA’s Conrad Challenge competing against over 950 student teams from around the world. They were given the Pete Conrad Scholars Award which includes $7,000 in scholarships to the TKS global innovation program.
"There were like teachers mentors judges and many people. They really supported our solution, and they really want to see SIREN become a real thing," said Audrey Wang, from Mission San Jose High School.
The team says they’re looking for funding to help complete their prototype gunshot detector and mentors in machine learning who can help them perfect the device.
The Uvalde Foundation for Kids, also announced Sunday that the team will be recognized for its contribution to ending school violence. The Foundation was founded after 19 students and 2 adults were murdered at school in Uvalde, TX last year.