Students to Showcase Innovative Apps During National TSA Conference in D.C. Area on June 29

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., June 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Eight winning Verizon Innovative App Challenge teams of middle and high school students will unveil and demo their apps on Sunday (June 29) at the 2014 national Technology Student Association conference, with an estimated attendance of 7,000 students, teachers and parents.

As winners of this national contest, these student teams have been working with instructors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab's Center for Mobile Learning, who have provided onsite and virtual training on coding, using the MIT App Inventor to bring the students' app concepts to life.

The Verizon Innovative App Challenge tasked students to use technology to help solve local social issues in their communities.

The 2014 winning teams – from four middle schools and four high schools – and their respective problem-solving apps, many of which are available in the Google Play store for download, are:

• Helena High School, Helena, Mont. – Exact 3D Extract, which uses mobile  technology to create models for 3D printing. http://vz.to/3Dscanner.
• Open Window School, Bellevue, Wash. – HikeAbout, which offers maps for hiking trails and safety information for hikers. http://vz.to/HikeAbout.
• Bartlett High School, Bartlett, Ill. – FITTASTICK!, which tracks food intake and exercise, and encourages fitness and weight loss through social networking. http://vz.to/FITTASTICK.
• Cheney Middle School, West Fargo, N.D. – Snap Docs, which converts hard copy text to editable documents, using mobile technology.
• North Hills Preparatory, Irving, Texas – Leave No Trace, which encourages reduction of energy consumption by displaying information about energy usage. http://vz.to/LeaveNoTrace.
• Resaca Middle School, Los Fresnos, Texas – Hello Navi, which assists blind or visually-impaired people in navigating inside buildings. http://vz.to/HelloNavi.
• Westford Academy, Westford, Mass. – Tactillium, which delivers science education through a mobile device chemistry simulator. http://vz.to/Tactillium.
• Jefferson Township Middle School, Oak Ridge, N.J. – Super Science Girl, which inspires interest in activities to encourage young girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers. http://vz.to/SuperSciGirl

The third Verizon Innovative App Challenge opens Aug. 4 and runs through Nov. 24. For more information, visit www.verizonfoundation.org/appchallenge.

MEDIA OPPORTUNITY: Middle and high school students available to share how they came up with their app concept and what it was like to learn how to code to develop their app. Media invited to attend, but must RSVP to gain entry.

SOURCE Verizon