A pair of juniors at the Newton College and Career Academy (NCCA) are looking to put Newton County on the map.

Robyn Asbell and Lizbeth Serrano-Tzintzun recently won the statewide level of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition. The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest is an annual competition that asks students to use Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) principles to solve a real-world problem that affects their community. 

By winning the state level, the pair earned a $12,000 prize package of Samsung products for the school.

What was their project?

Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun created a headache relief patch kit designed to take on pain relief medication dependency and offer a solution that circumvents the need for pills. The project was formally called the SoothSync Patch Kit.

With the assistance and encouragement of several NCCA teachers, from English to engineering, the two wanted to create a tension headache relief patch that differs from products on the market today. 

Asbell demonstrated the pair’s prototype, which includes a microchip attached to an electro-gel patch that would be applied to the back of one’s neck, just under the hairline.

“Most of the ones that are out there today – cause there are some that are out there…it goes on the forehead,” Asbell said. “But we were like, that looks a little too informal, no one would actually wear that outside. So that’s why we thought it would be best to put it on the back of the neck, because on the back of the neck, that’s where your vertebral arteries are located, which give you a closer and quicker route to the brain.”

Serrano-Tzintzun explained that the patch would send small doses of frequency waves to dilate the blood vessels, relieving the pain of the headache.

“Doing some research, we found that the tension headaches were caused by the blood vessels in your brain being closed,” Serrano-Tzintzun said “So closed blood vessels equals no even blood flow through the brain, therefore decreasing the amount of oxygen, and therefore you get the symptoms of a headache.”

According to the pair, the patch is more mechanical than chemical, which will allow the user to decrease dependency on medication that could have lasting effects including dependency and liver damage.

Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun's overall goal was to create a non-invasive and drug-free way of relieving headaches. Based on their research, pain medication reliance is a problem across the country, including in Newton County and the NCCA.

“We found that 18 to 22 students per week visit the [NCCA school] nurse due to headache-related pain, and we crunched that out into percentages like per year, and we found that 85 percent of students visit the nurse based on headache pains and the other 15 percent does not,” Asbell said. 

The contest:

The pair entered the competition upon recommendation by 2025 Newton County Schools Teacher of the Year Taylor Moody, who teaches the students’ AP Language and Composition course where the idea was born. 

Moody said she likes to try and find innovative ways to integrate her English courses with the NCCA’s STEM requirements.

“One of the key parts about STEM is how to do cross-collaboration,” Moody said. “And so I love to make projects that the kids will actually care about, so I found and researched what was required of them in biotech and engineering and found that both of them have a common project on innovations.” 

Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun excelled with help from Moody and other instructors – namely engineering instructors Ryan Allred and Zach Pitts, biotech teacher Pamela Consuegra and Piedmont Newton Chief Medical Officer and mentor Dr. Craig Skurcenski.

In addition to the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition, Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun also saw other outside success with the SoothSync Patch Kit. The pair competed in a Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) competition and placed in the top five.

Despite both students’ reservations about the product’s success, Moody said she knew from the start that Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun would do well.

“I think I actually came to Robyn and Liz before the project even started, and I was like ‘I know y’all can do this’ and I wanted them to partner up so I actually put them together,” Moody said. “Like they said, we’re always super excited to see if they make it as a finalist, but when we realized they won for the entire state of Georgia…it’s just impressive.”

The 50 schools that are statewide winners of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow contest are each awarded a $12,000 prize package of Samsung products, but Moody is not sure yet what exactly the package entails or how it will be implemented at the school.

The pair is not among the ten national finalists. However, they are still in the running for a sustainability award and an entrepreneurship award, which will be awarded next month. The winners of those categories receive additional prize packages worth $25,000. 

What’s next for Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun?

As juniors, Asbell and Serrano-Tzintzun will graduate high school in 2026. Both have hopes to attend college with sights set on the medical field.

Serrano-Tzintzun said her top school right now is Emory University, and she is considering studying biology or following a pre-med track. Though she is not cemented in a decision yet, her ultimate goal is to become a doctor.

“Doing research over these past few years in high school, I’ve grown to really like it, so I’m thinking maybe like a research Ph.D.,” Serrano-Tzintzun said.

Asbell’s top university picks as of now are Stanford University and Brown University for out-of-state schools, or Emory University if she stays in Georgia.

Asbell thinks she will pursue a Bachelor’s degree in human biology with a minor in public health before getting a Master's in public health. She hopes to one day get a Ph.D. in laboratory medicine.

In the more immediate future, the pair has another research class at the NCCA next semester, and they are considering continuing work with their SoothSync patch kits.

“Robyn and I are – being in the STEM institute, we’re required to take AP Research as a class next year so we’re trying to think of ways to stem off of this so that we can both continue to work on it, whether it be the engineering side or the biology side,” Serrano-Tzintzun said. 

They have not seriously considered creating and selling the headache patch kits in the years to come, but both joked that they could be open to the idea, with Asbell saying they would have Zoom calls every weekend in college.

“And when they become billionaires they’re going to come remember their old English teacher,” Moody joked.