Troy High School Students Compete In National App Challenge
By Edward Cardenas
TROY (CBS Detroit) - Troy High School students have been named the Best in State in the third Verizon Innovative App Challenge.
The students designed a mobile application concept that addresses a need or problem in their local schools or communities, according to Verizon.
Students at Troy came up with an app concept called Thryve that helps educate farmers about saving water and the careful use of fertilizer to improve their crop yields.
"This contest has exposed students to new skillsets such as learning to collaborate, negotiate and best of all problem solving," said Lauren Love Wright, Verizon Wireless Michigan /Indiana/Kentucky Region President, in a release. "We can't wait to see which of these creative concepts will become actual working mobile apps that can help make a difference in local communities."
The Verizon Innovative App Challenge was created by in partnership with the Technology Student Association to "inspire student interest in science, technology, engineering and math."
The team from Troy is one of 90 middle and high school teams from across the country advanced to the next phase of the judging process.
The 90 Best in State teams advance to the next round of the competition. On Jan. 16 Verizon and the TSA will name 24 Best in Region middle and high school team winners from the West, Midwest, South and Northeast.
Verizon stated that each Best in Region team will earn a $5,000 cash grant for its school to further develop or support a program in science, technology, engineering and math, (STEM) subjects.
Then on Feb. 3, eight Best in Nation winners – four middle school and four high school teams – will chosen from the Best in Region teams. Those selected as Best in Nation will earn their schools an additional $15,000 cash grant to further develop or support a STEM-related program and each team member will receive a Samsung tablet.
The winning teams will also receive onsite and virtual training on coding and app development from trainers from the Center for Mobile Learning at the MIT Media Lab to help the students develop their app concepts, with the assistance of Verizon.
Additionally, members of the eight winning teams will be invited to present their apps in person at the National TSA Conference in Dallas, Texas, courtesy of Verizon.
Apps developed during the first two years of the Verizon Innovative App Challenge have been downloaded more than 26,000 times from the Google Play store.
