RIDGELAND- A group of seventh-grade students from Old Towne Middle School developed an app concept that won Best in State in the Verizon Innovative Learning app challenge.
The app called, Lunch-O-Matic gives students the opportunity to pre-order their lunch meals from the cafeteria.
“Students can pre-order what they want for lunch so that cafeteria workers can determine how much food to make,”said team member Daniel Lynn. “It also has a nutrition feature that can explain what foods are safe and not safe for people with dietary restrictions.”
The idea behind the app came from a source close to home.
“Allen Richard, a member of the team, has a friend who has diabetes and he saw his friend struggling with what he could and couldn’t eat,” said Sasha Lewis another team member.”So that’s basically how this app came about.”
The app has not been created, currently it is still just a concept but if they win the next round of awards their hard work will become a reality.
They’re now eligible to be voted Fan Favorite. The competition is between app concepts from all across the country. If they win their school will receive an additional $15,000 for the STEM program as well as an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the Technology Student Association National Convention in Orlando Florida in June.
The team will also receive help in developing the app.
“It’s very encouraging just to know that the school promotes these opportunities for STEM related learning,” said Daniel’s mother, Sissy Lynn. “It’s really incredible because it’s preparing our students for the future. You look at college and beyond and it’s preparing them to hopefully have a career in one of these fields.”
To vote for the Lunch-O-Matic app just text LUNCH to 22-333. Voting closes after February 14, 2017.
