By NATASHA BRENNEMAN
Staff writer
Cochranton High School students have received a state-wide award for a program designed to help the others in their school.
Students in a programming class taught by Gail Kosienski participated in the Verizon Innovative Learning app challenge. The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) initiative was open to high school students across the country.
Cochranton’s “Caring Closet” smartphone application concept was determined to be the best among all high school entries in Pennsylvania, and the team won $5,000 for the high school.
“We are now in the running for the app challenge fan favorite award,” said Kennedy Everett, one of the students who worked on the app. “We are not just representing our town now, we are representing the state of Pennsylvania.”
The group from Cochranton developed the Caring Closet. The goal of the program is to help students who struggle with access to clothing, shoes, school supplies and personal hygiene products.
The app targets the specific needs of individuals.
The app allows students to see what is in the closet and to request specific items. The apps allows the Caring Closet to keep only the essentials on hand, with the rest supplied on demand.
The app allows students to type in their location, which allows them to see all the Caring Closet locations near them.
The users are also able to request items, and where appropriate, indicate their size. When submitting their request, students receive a number, and the number will identify their order and show when the item is available.
Prospective donors can see what has been requested on the app, allowing others to bring in items that would apply to the order. Once the item arrives at the location, volunteers will assembly the order and mark it with its order number. The student is then free to pick up the order.
Often, students are ashamed of their needs and are too embarrassed to ask for help. The app designed by the students allows their peers to browse items available in the closet and request specific needs from the closet.
The app also allows people from the community to access the app to see what is needed to make donations.
The students’ concept needs to get the most votes to win the fan favorite award. To vote for the app, text CLOSET to 22333 by Feb. 14.
The winning app will earn $15,000 in prizes for the school and also help make the app available for nationwide distribution.
A video can be seen at https://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNEYgww2hSw
