Ridgewood H. S. Puts App on Display In Washington

Grover Cleveland High-Tech Pgm. At Conference

Students from Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood were among a group of 18 high schoolers who recently presented mobile applications they created at the National Academy Foundation’s (NAF) annual professional development conference in Washington, D.C.

During the National Academy Foundation’s annual professional development conference in Washington, D.C., several students from Ridgewood’s Grover Cleveland High School were among a group of 18 high schoolers across the U.S. who presented mobile applications they developed earlier this year in a program sponsored in part by Lenovo.

The mobile apps were developed as part of a pilot program launched by the NAF and Lenovo in January.

“We’re amazed at how these students rolled up their sleeves to create some truly impressive mobile apps,” said Michael Schmedlen, worldwide director of education for Lenovo. “By enabling them with the right technology and framework for learning, these doers demonstrated their creativity, programming skills and entrepreneurship.”

Student teams participated in a semester long curriculum to develop a working wireframe, with many teams also creating business plans and implementation schedules for the Android based mobile applications. The winning teams presented their mobile apps at the NAF Next Conference on July 18. Many of the apps will be available for the public to download via Google Play following the presentation.

Grover Cleveland High School’s project was called “Find Your Way,” an application for people with disabilities using public transportation. They also developed “Staying Fit, Come,” a Dominican food recipe application.

The participating schools are part of NAF’s network of career academies as well as Lenovo’s initiative to en- courage greater student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. To help implement the program, Lenovo provided a package of technology products to each school, including Android based ThinkPad Tablets and large format ThinkCentre HD All-in- One desktops, among other items.

“We are very pleased with the results of the pilot program and excited to integrate the approach with our other 100 IT academies. Thanks to our collaboration with Lenovo, young people had the chance to apply what they are learning to a technology that is relevant and exciting to them. Strategies like this engage students, reduce the likelihood they will leave school, and increase the chances for them to excel,” said JD Hoye, president of the National Academy Foundation.