A missing trifold board, a nerve-wracking wait, and an ambitious idea blending environmental science with engineering didn’t stop a group of iLEAD Academy students from winning first place at the state competition and securing their spot at nationals.
Edwin Rodriguez, Merritt Hall, Tabitha Swain, and Matthew Carmack earned the top prize in the Engineering Design category with a project that proposed a creative solution to an ongoing agriculture issue - managing the nitrogen cycle.
Each year, students in iLEAD’s engineering pathway are assigned a theme aligned with the TSA (Technology Student Association) competition. This year’s prompt challenged students to “manage the nitrogen cycle,” which often becomes imbalanced due to over-fertilization in agriculture, leading to harmful runoff and environmental damage.
“Our solution combined artificial wetlands with hydroponics and aquaponics,” explained Merritt Hall. “We wanted to create a system that not only restored balance to the nitrogen cycle but also made up for the farmland lost when you build wetlands.”
The team envisioned modular, rice bed-style artificial wetlands placed near croplands. These shallow waterways would house floating hydroponic beds and fish, creating a symbiotic cycle. Fish would release ammonia, plants would absorb nitrogen-based waste, and algae would feed the fish—creating a closed-loop system that cleanses runoff while producing crops.
“It’s a combination of artificial wetlands and sustainable agriculture,” Edwin Rodriguez said. “We’d place them in areas with excess nitrate runoff. Even though wetlands take up farmland, we make up for that loss using hydroponics and aquaponics.”
The group carefully studied multiple design options before merging the best parts of each into a cohesive solution. According to Tabitha Swain, the team initially considered standalone wetlands and hydroponic systems but realized that each came with trade-offs.
“Wetlands can be destructive to surrounding ecosystems during construction,” Tabitha noted. “And hydroponics alone doesn't always have enough nutrients to be self-sustaining. So, we decided to merge the two approaches.”
The team stressed that their project is a conceptual model at this stage and would need further testing and refinement.
“There’s still a lot of variables,” said Merritt. “The type of fish, the plants used, and the environment all matter. You’d almost need a testing facility to explore different versions.”
Despite their technical preparedness, the team faced an unexpected obstacle on competition day: their trifold board, the visual centerpiece of their presentation, was missing.
“It was on the bus with us, then got moved into the luggage room,” said Edwin. “We couldn’t find it the next morning and had to tell the judges. The funny part was the room where we were presenting was the same room it had been moved to.”
Thanks to help from another iLEAD student and security staff, the board was eventually found, and the team was allowed to present despite the delay. Tabitha Swain built the board, modeling it after past state winners and customizing it with their solution.
Edwin and Merritt delivered the main presentation, while Matthew and Tabitha assisted with the preparation and development. The team had 10 minutes to explain their concept, followed by a five-minute Q&A session.
“It went really well,” said Matthew. “The judges told us it was one of the best they’d seen.”
Now, Merritt and Matthew are preparing for the national stage. Both Edwin and Tabitha opted not to attend, but the remaining team members are already reviewing their state feedback to strengthen their performance.
“We missed about four points on the rubric, mostly in the presentation,” Merritt said. “We’re going to make those changes so we can go into nationals aiming for full points.”