Way to Go! Roslyn student creates app to identify plants

A Roslyn High School student has developed a free app to help community members identify plant life at a local park.

Brian Song, a senior, created Clark Botanical Garden — available for download in the iOS App Store — to help visitors at Clark Botanic Garden, a 12-acre garden and park in Albertson.

The app, which he created over a five-week period, merges his interests in botany and technology, he said. It provides a map of the garden, displays ongoing events and includes a tool to identify the park’s plants based on a photograph.

“I volunteer on the weekends at parks, and I thought it would be kind of cool to make an app that can tell me what I’m looking at,” Song said.

To create the app, Song said he watched YouTube tutorials and used an iOS app-making tool called Xcode. He was recently honored for his efforts with a certificate from Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena.

“We are incredibly proud that Brian created an app that benefits the local community,” said Dave Lazarus, an assistant principal at the school. “He saw an information gap and utilized his ingenuity to identify a problem and come up with a helpful solution.”

Song, 17, is also a member of his school’s track team, Code Club and Math Club. In addition, he volunteers for Saturday Stewardship, group that performs improvement projects at local parks and preserves.

 — MICHAEL R. EBERT

By Michael R. Ebert

michael.ebert@newsday.com

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.