McKay girls bring home coding honours
One is designed to make the lives of the region’s homeless population safer and another helps anglers identify and report invasive species to the authorities.
What they have in common is both are smartphone apps designed by girls from McKay Public School, and both were honoured recently at the Niagara round of the Technovation girls coding challenge.
The inspiration behind Homeless Help Niagara came as the group made up of students Caitlyn Wade, Madi Bush, Tessa Vanduzen, Catharine Boitor and Julia Clarke-Louie were looking to create an app to assist single parents.
The more they looked into the issue, the more they realized housing was a big concern, and it was something they decided to focus their attention on.
Boitor said she was further moved by her mother’s work at Port Cares and wanted to find practical ways to help people in need of a good home. She said it felt good to tackle an issue that seems, at times, to be bigger than all of them.
“We know we can’t eliminate homelessness, but we can help.”
The app includes information about shelters and transit schedules and has emergency numbers on speed dial.
The app also features a social component to allow people to tell their story, Bush said.
“There have been cases where people have shared their story online, and people have helped them,” she said.
For their efforts, the team picked up gold at the challenge, which took place May 5 at the Hilton Niagara Falls hotel. From there, they advance to semifinal judging, and will find out on May 31 if they advance to the World Pitch finals in California this August.
Meanwhile, the team behind Ontario Anglers Alert, was made up of Sophie Clarke, Autumn Mooney, Kari Fitoski, Sophie Hillhouse and Lillie Rozic. The app allows anglers and boaters to take a photo of invasive species they encounter and quickly send off location data to the Port Colborne Conservation Club, who will then contact the Ministry of Natural Resources.
For their efforts, the girls took home bronze.
Technovation aims to boost the involvement of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields by offering girls around the world the opportunity to learn the skills they need to emerge as tech entrepreneurs and leaders.