Students develop app for life after school
Continued from page 1 One hour solar charge, provides 24 hours of power to the unit.
With the water issues facing Havelock North residents in Hawke’s Bay, Kete has decided to couple the device with a travel sized handbook about water borne bacteria, treatment, and signs of water borne illness.
Aimed mainly for travellers, it will also be quite useful for anyone in the agriculture and hospitality industries.
‘‘There are a issues.
‘‘A lot of people down there are getting sick because they are simply not informed, they don’t know how to treat the water or to know the signs of water borne illness, just like I didn’t.’’
Kete has decided to put her system to good use and for every 100 units sold, she will donate five units to the Red Cross.
The other Matamata College company involved is JA-OK, made up of company directors Jack Trower, Andy Schweizer, Olivia Carter and Kaleb Reid who have created an app Student Survival NZ, aimed at students heading out on their own for the first time.
The app includes low budget lot of water recipes, flatting guides, a budget, CV builder, study tips and links to universities.
Carter says they have had a very positive response from people they have spoken to and the company is thrilled to be invited to take their product to the market.
The app is available on ITunes and Google Play.
More than 200 years 12 and 13 students just like Kete and JA-OK from throughout the region are involved in the YES initiative, a year-long programme where they set up a real business and research, develop, produce and market a real product to make a profit.
YES regional co-ordinator Levinia Paku says both teams took their ideas to a Dragon’s Den at WINTEC in June and presented their products and they both received great feedback.
Paku says both companies have the potential to win at a regional level and represent Waikato at the national finals.