Torgelow News

State victory at “Youth Research”

Schloss Torgelow: Boarding School & High School Torgelow News State victory at “Youth Research”

Karoline, a boarding school student in the 10th grade at Schloss Torgelow, has won 1st place in the technology category at the state competition “Youth Research” in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, together with Elisabeth from Reutershagen Gymnasium. Their joint project “Nautic-Sense” – a technologically advanced measuring buoy for analyzing water quality – was awarded.

The idea for the buoy originally originated at the Warnow. The two students posed the question of how a closed lock affects the water quality and ecosystem of the river – a practical research project that combines ecological issues with modern technology.

The now award-winning buoy is an upgraded version of her earlier project “Fish Stalker 1.0,” which Karoline developed together with Elisabeth at their former school. After Karoline’s move to Schloss Torgelow, the new, technically refined version was created in collaboration with Elisabeth: “Nautic-Sense” (Fish Stalker 2.0).

The current measuring buoy consists of a Plexiglass tube with 3D-printed closures and records a variety of important environmental parameters:

• Temperature at three depth levels
• pH value
• Oxygen content
• Turbidity (TSS – Total Suspended Solids)
• TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), for assessing salt and nutrient content.
• Flow velocity, measured via an integrated gyroscope.

All collected data is automatically transmitted via LoRaWAN radio to a laptop or a website – a modern, energy-efficient solution for long-term environmental monitoring.

With their project, Karoline and Elisabeth have qualified for the federal competition that takes place at the end of May in Hamburg. There, they will compete against the best young researchers in Germany. Karoline has already revealed to us that there are initial interested parties for their measuring buoy – among others, the Institute for Applied Ecosystem Research has contacted both of them.

The entire boarding school warmly congratulates Karoline and Elisabeth on this great success – and we are keeping our fingers crossed for the national competition!