Meet the Makers hosted for the first time on May 20 by Mobile Makers and Computer Science teacher Nicole Alexander. There were five different apps developed on Swift Playgrounds that students shared with guests. 

Mobile App Development is a class offered for students to learn how to build a mobile app on IOS using Swift and Xcode. Each unit consists of a reading and a code challenge. At the end of the second semester, students develop their own app by applying the skills they have learned throughout the year. Rouse and Cedar Park High School are the only schools in the district that offer this class.

“We really have a good group of kids who work well together,” Alexander said. “We bounce great ideas off each other. They all help each other [and it] makes it a lot of fun for me as a teacher.”

This year, there are 10 students in Mobile App Development, but next year 40 students are signed up for the class. To take the class, students must have taken either AP Computer Science Principles or Computer Science I Advanced.

“I loved it this year,” Alexander said. “It’s been so much fun for me, and I’m sad to see my seniors go, but they’re off to good things. We have had a lot of fun [and] we just have a really good sense of family there.”

After completion of this class, seniors take a SWIFT certification that makes them industry-certified. Seniors Colton Rupe and Parker Walski passed. 

“I’m incredibly proud of them,” Alexander said. “My juniors that will continue with me next year will also get that opportunity.”

LISD wants to further talk to juniors Bhavya Duggirala and Rohit Padmakumar about their app, Class Match, to potentially use it in the district. In addition, the district believes that senior Cameron Bradley and sophomore Colby Driskell’s TrainUp app could be profitable. 

“I am incredibly proud,” Alexander said. “The fact that they were able to produce an app and give a pitch about it. It’s one thing to produce something, but it’s another thing to be able to explain it and sell it to someone. I’m so proud of them, they did so good.”

Class Match 

Class Match is an app that crafts out a four-year high school plan for students developed by Duggirala and Padmakumar.

“We don’t feel done,” Duggirala said. “This is just the basis of our app. We are both taking Mobile Maker’s practicum next year and we want to expand this app and integrate AI into it as well. This is just the start.”

In Class Match, a personality quiz gives students a broad scope of fields that are best fit based on their personality. There are currently five fields, such as engineering, mathematics, art, humanities and business. After the selection of a field, a four-year plan with what classes to take during school and in the summer as well as passion project ideas are catered to the individual.

“Both me and my partner are immigrants, so our parents didn’t really know how to guide us through high school,” Duggirala said. “We didn’t really know what to do because we didn’t have much mentorship. So Class Match raises awareness of classes that people can take from freshman year.”

MathKit

Seniors Parker Walski, Colton Rupe and junior Jackson Mann created their app, MathKit, a calculator app that compiles multiple aspects of geometric calculus.

“We decided to create this because we are all math nerds, but specifically we had a solve and creation-based ideology following it,” Mann said. We wanted to make something easy for users to calculate.”

Mann plans to continue with this course and to keep developing MathKit. He hopes to build more apps in the future and start a business based on it. 

“We want to make a place for users to come and access multiple different calculators without having to know too much,” Mann said. “We want to make a calculator that can be used for years to come with instructions and the value for multiple people.”

Fit Fusion 

Senior Mohammad Abujubarah developed Fit Fusion, a personalized fitness app tailored for users to achieve fitness goals, whether it’s to lose weight, build muscle or improve flexibility. 

“You can track your calorie intake and your body weight depending on how much you work out in a day and then it gives you suggestions depending on what type of exercise you want to do,” Abujubarah said.  

TrainUp 

TrainUp developed by Bradley and Driskell is geared towards parents with children who want to learn how to play sports. On the app, users can choose the preferred sport and shows athletes in the area that play those sports that are willing to do private lessons.

“Our idea came from Officer Horn who has kids that want to learn how to play sports,” Bradley said. “I also have younger siblings that want to learn how to play sports and it’s not the easiest thing to find people to do private lessons for you that are trustworthy.”

Evasion

Junior Mason Howard developed Evasion, an arcade game where players have to navigate through a barrage of incoming obstacles. 

“I just wanted to make a fun little game,” Howard said. “I thought it sounded very doable  when we were making app ideas and so I decided to do it. I’m pretty proud of it. I’m glad to share it.”