Winners of the 2017 High School App Building Challenge
On thunkable.com, anyone can build their own mobile apps without knowing how to code. This summer, we hosted our first ever international app building challenge for high school students!
The challenge: Build an app that solves a local problem in your community. Applicants were evaluated on three categories:
- Ability to solve a local problem
- Innovativeness
- Design and functionality
After reviewing hundreds of submissions from around the world, the results are in:
① First Place Winner: Leftovers {USA}
Leftovers is an on demand food app where anyone can create and post local listings for leftover food. When a listing is posted, users can locate and claim leftovers, providing less fortunate community members with access to food and reducing household waste.
App builder: Hyowon “Raphi” Kang
Problem addressed: Food insecurity in Greater Boston
High School: Concord Academy, Waltham, MA, USA
② Second Place Winner: Smart Water {El Salvador}
Smart Water is an app where users can automate water irrigation through bluetooth connected devices. Users can schedule watering in advance through an internal calendar system and manually control water flows. Bluetooth devices can also measure ground humidity, determine when specific areas need to be watered and automatically irrigate land.
App builders: César Francisco Henriquez Avelar and Oscar Rafael Mendoza Recinos
Problem addressed: Water waste and irrigation
High School: Instituto Nacional de Sonzacate, Sonsonate, El Salvador
③ Third Place Winner: yellowRide {India}
The yellowRide app provides real-time school bus tracking for parents, and also offers a bus attendance management system for schools.
App builder: Rhythm Mehta
Problem addressed: School bus location tracking
High School: Doon Public School, New Delhi, India
Honorable Mentions
Parkinsensor {USA}
App builders: Sandhini and Anshika Agarwal
App function: Test to see if you are at risk for Parkinson’s Disease.
High School: Henry M. Gunn High School, Palo Alto, CA, USA
Pet Ambulance {India}
App builders: Dinesh Kumar Vijayarajan and G. Gurupandian
App function: Find on demand resources for pet emergencies and daily care.
High School: Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai, India
CommunityPower {Greece}
App builder: Achilles Haitas
App function: Easily report public infrastructure damage to relevant local government agencies.
High School: 1st High School of St. Stefanos, Athens, Greece
i-CHILD {India}
App builder: Manmeet Singh Tuteja
App function: Track your child’s school and exercise progress.
High School: St.Mark’s Senior Secondary Public School, New Delhi, India
Illumination {USA}
App builders:
Trisha Ballakur, Andover High, Andover, MA, USA
Srija Nagireddy, Acton-Boxborough Regional High School, Acton, MA, USA
Neel Bhalla, Lexington High School, Lexington, MA USA
App function: Help high school students find important mental health information and resources.
SafetyFirst {India}
App builder: Mohamed Ibrahim
App function: Easily contact police, emergency care or family members.
High School: Velammal Vidhyashram, Chennai, India
Many of the winners have kindly agreed to share their open source Thunkable blocks. Click on the links to see their blocks. If you are inspired, share what you build in our community forum!
