Three teenagers developed a Trion City Schools iPhone application.
Staff photo by Jenna Walker/Chattanooga Times Free PressThe news came in a tweet: Trion City Schools developed an iPhone app.
Officials from the tiny school system – home to three schools on one campus – say they like to think they’re leading the technology charge in North Georgia with an application that, for now, includes calendar information, cafeteria menus, district news and athletics announcements.
“As a school system, we are really focused on giving our students a chance to advance using technology,” said Howard Hughes, Trion’s technology director. “Funding is a challenge, but when we see opportunities to let students know technology is important, we seek them out.”
In this case, the mission to develop an iPhone app didn’t originate from a class assignment, but in a conversation between Hughes and then-sophomore Jake Reeves, who wanted to try his hand at computer programming. The final product was the creation of Reeves, Hughes and Trion High School student Zev Greenberg, who just graduated and will be studying at Georgia Institute of Technology this fall.
Reeves, 16, said most of the six months he worked on the app were spent figuring out how to begin. He plans to minor in computer software design in college, and hopes his work on the app will set him apart from his competition.