OAKLEY -- Freedom High School here has lost out on the grand prize in a national contest for a wealth of technology.

Sponsored by Samsung, the competition recently awarded prizes to five grand prize winners, one of which was determined by the number of votes schools received from the public.

Freedom High received 4,908 votes as compared with the 72,441 that a Los Angeles high school collected in this "Community Choice" award category.

Each of the five schools won approximately $110,000 in electronic equipment, such as smart boards, LED televisions and laptop computers.

As a semi-finalist, Freedom High School didn't leave empty-handed, however.

Environmental sciences teacher John Sierra, who entered the contest along with 1,615 other schools, survived two cuts before being eliminated in the final round.

As semifinalists, he and his students won a Samsung camcorder, laptop, and Adobe video editing software to create a video, which they entered in the next round of competition.

The clip they submitted showed how the nearly 6,000-square-foot garden of native plants they're creating will improve the local environment by teaching the importance of water conservation and habitat preservation.

Solve for Tomorrow is a competition designed to raise young people's enthusiasm for math and the sciences.

