Chicago High School Students Represent City Schools at White House Science Fair

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Apr 22, 2013, 10:46 ET

CHICAGO, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two Chicago high school students are participating in the Third White House Science Fair today in Washington, D.C.

Shaquiesha Davis, 16, a junior at Chicago Tech Academy, will showcase her iPhone application, "Baby B 4 Me."

Anthony Halmon, 19, a senior at Perspectives Leadership Academy, will present "The Thermofier."

The fair, which President Obama will attend, honors students who participated in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) competitions across the country.

Davis earned her spot after competing in Chicago's Seventh Annual Future Founders Citywide Business Plan Competition organized by entrepreneurship non-profit, the Future Founders Foundation.

Halmon earned his spot after competing in the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship's 2012 Chicago Citywide Business Plan Competition.

Davis presented a business plan for an iPhone app, Baby B 4 Me, that allows parents to communicate with their childcare providers in real-time. Davis built her business plan through an entrepreneurship course curriculum written by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) and with the assistance of mentors provided by the Future Founders Foundation. Then with help from ChiTech and MobileU, Davis coded Baby B 4 Me from scratch.

Elizabeth Hyman, vice president, public advocacy, CompTIA, a non-profit association for the IT industry and founding sponsor of ChiTech, learned of the White House opportunity and encouraged Shaquiesha to apply.

"Through our work with ChiTech, we knew that their technology-forward students would be perfect candidates to participate in the Science Fair," said Hyman. "We are so proud to see Shaquiesha's hard work and immense skills recognized by the White House."

At NFTE's 2012 competition, Halmon presented a 25-page business plan for The Thermofier, a child's pacifier with an internal thermometer. Halmon was inspired to create the business plan in his NFTE course last year after seeing the challenge of using regular thermometers with his 3 year-old daughter. With the support of grants and Northwestern University, Halmon built a prototype of The Thermofier to showcase at the White House.

"The NFTE program always begins with asking students to consider a problem or challenge they see in their daily lives and communities," said Christine Poorman, executive director of NFTE's Chicago office. "Anthony took this to heart, and developed a product that truly solves that problem for himself and others."

SOURCE CompTIA