By Jacqueline Maxwell
Gilbert’s newest town app was chosen Wednesday, and created by high school students in the first app competition of its kind.
Bioscience High School, located in Phoenix, won first place in the Spark App League competition, a partnership between Arizona State University’s College of Technology and Innovation and the Town of Gilbert.
The Spark App League is the first competition in Arizona and nationwide to call on the knowledge and talents of high school students to create apps for a town, Town Manager Patrick Banger said.
The Spark App League competition kicked off in February and gave contestants 40 days to create an app that gave Gilbert residents information about parks and recreation, shopping and other local businesses.
Nine high schools from across the Phoenix area joined the competition in February, and five apps were submitted to be judged, Gilbert Mayor John Lewis said.
Kevin Willis sponsored Desert Vista High School’s team, which got second place in the competition, and is the math department chair and also teaches a programming teacher at the school.
“The biggest benefit of getting involved with this competition is that they see a real-world application,” Willis said. “This is a key connection to applications of what they’re doing in the classroom to what is actually going to be used out of the classroom.”
Jon Gauthier, 18, is a senior at Desert Vista High School, which got second place in the app competition.
All of the teams developed Android apps, although developing iPhone apps are typically easier, Gauthier said. Most high school programming classes use Java, which is tied to the process of making Android apps, he said.
“In programming classes you don’t really see more than homework problems sometimes,” Gauthier said.
The Spark App League competition has enabled him to exercise his skills outside of class and see how they apply to real-life situations, he said. Using real data from the town was also a good learning experience, he said.
Gauthier is interested in doing something with apps in his future career, and is attending Stanford in the fall to major in computer science, he said.
Marcus Lopez, 16, is a sophomore at Mesquite High School, whose team got third place in the competition.
The Spark App League competition has given him a lot of experience and has really furthered his interest in technology, Lopez said.
“For Gilbert, this is a key part of our future,” Lewis said. “We are using technology to enhance our ability to serve our citizens.”
The Spark App League is part of the Town of Gilbert’s Digital Government Initiative, which is a plan to make the town’s government more transparent, Banger said.
“In Gilbert, we take a stance on trying to ensure as much transparency in our government and as much openness as we can,” Banger said.
The town has been collecting vast amounts of data for years that have, until now, been left untouched, Banger explained. Because of the app contest, that data is now being used for the benefit of Gilbert’s residents, he said.
This data should be available to everyone and should be used to maximize its effectiveness, Banger said.
Bioscience High School will receive a $1,000 donation to the school, each team member will receive a $250 gift card, and their app will be featured on the Gilbert App store.
“I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface on the things that we can learn and the things that we can do,” Banger said.