Half Hollow Hills, Holy Trinity students create winning apps
Three Long Island students have been named winners in a national competition that challenged them to create original apps.
Shameed Job and Krish Malhotra, both seniors at Half Hollow Hills High School West in Dix Hills, and Gerry Stevens, a sophomore at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School in Hicksville, were winners in the 2019 Congressional App Challenge, an initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives in conjunction with the Internet Education Foundation.
Job and Malhotra's "Fyesta" app allows people to connect with friends, while Steven's "Sneaker Plaza" app was designed to locate sneaker stores around the tristate area. They were named winners for New York's 3rd and 4th congressional districts, respectively.
This year's challenge received 2,177 app submissions and named approximately 250 winning apps.
"In high school, it can be hard to get together with your friends or plan an event," Malhotra said of "Fyesta." "We started this project to make the process of linking up with your friends quicker and easier."
Of "Sneaker Plaza," Stevens said: "My app will allow people to quickly and easily search for stores that have their desired shoe in stock."
Winners received $250 in Amazon Web Services credits and can showcase their apps this spring at a reception in Washington, D.C. The winning apps are also eligible to be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and on House.gov.
DEER PARK
Digital citizenship
May Moore Primary School has launched a new initiative in which all grades levels are learning about digital literacy using a program called Common Sense Education. The program empowers students to use technology to learn and create while being responsible and ethical, school officials said.
The school's kindergartners and first-graders are focusing on balancing time spent online and sticking solely to safe digital spaces, while second-graders are concentrating on what kind of information is private and the concept of leaving a digital footprint.
"Up until now, we haven't really had a curriculum in place to teach kids how to be a digital citizen," May Moore digital literacy teacher Pamela Arcuri said.
SAYVILLE/SOUTH HUNTINGTON
Future City
Teams from Sayville Middle School and Henry L. Stimson Middle School placed third and fifth, respectively, last month in the National Engineers Week Future City Competition's New York City Regional. Sayville also won the competition's Best Futuristic Design Award, while Henry L. Stimson won the Most Energy Efficient City Award.
The competition challenges teams to design virtual cities using SimCity software, write 500-word essays, and build scale models using recycled materials. This year's theme, "Clean Water: Tap Into Tomorrow," asked teams to choose a threat to their city's water and design a system to maintain a reliable supply of clean drinking water.
"The award for the most futuristic design was a category that made me really proud," Sayville technology teacher Jeffrey Goodman said.
SHOREHAM
Coding Club
Miller Avenue Elementary School has launched a new Coding Club to teach children the fundamentals of computer programming. The club is expected to provide coding instruction to 160 students in various grade levels by the end of the school year.
During the club's sessions, students create algorithms, develop step-by-step solutions to problems, and explore different methods of coding with characters including Dory from Disney's "Finding Dory" and Elsa from Disney's "Frozen."
"We used the Wonder app and the Path app to explore different methods of coding," the club's adviser, Cara Brown, said of a recent session. "[Students] followed directions and sequencing to place different obstacles, sounds and actions along their line of code."
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
