FAIRVIEW PARK, Ohio - Problem solving is a tenet of 21st century education concepts being taught at Fairview High School. That's exactly what seniors Zack V., William N. and Damion Z. did successfully last weekend winning first place in the 2017 Hyland Software High School Innovation Showdown in Westlake. Each student received a $500 scholarship.

"It's a huge achievement," said Fairview High School Digital Media Teacher Chris Kaminski, who also acted as advisor to the students. "The competition was definitely tough.

"These guys have a lot of rigor and a lot of intelligence in their group, and the ability to just think differently and solve problems. There were 17 teams and three rounds. They had an initial written pitch, a video pitch and they had to do a final presentation."

The Hyland Software High School Innovation Showdown requires each team of students to solve a real-world problem. The Fairview High School students decided to tackle fossil fuels. The project was called "H.A.T.S. -- Horizontal Aerodynamic Turbine System."

"We picked the wind turbine because although we had many ideas, we decided it would be best to use the innovation that solved a large-world problem, such as the nonrenewable energy crisis," William N. said.

The team, which married old and new technology to enhance efficiency, explored the concept of horizontal turbine using wind from any direction. Multiple modular turbines can be stacked together to increase the efficiency per space.

The students' mock-up turbine takes up only 350 square feet as opposed to traditional turbines, which take up 250 acres per 20 turbines.

"For our team winning the Innovation Challenge, it was huge," Damion Z. said. "It was our first time ever being in this challenge, and we won it all."

Kaminski said this was also the first year Fairview High School students entered the Hyland Software High School Innovation Showdown.

"This proves our hard work and the direction we're trying to go as a school culture is working," Kaminski said. "We're trying to teach problem-solving and project-based learning. We're preparing kids to take that into the real world."