Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke congratulates CGLA students Deyna Jacobo, Carmen Gonzales, Honeydi Velasquez and Samantha Bautista, from left, on their successful app making.When Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy students Carmen Gonzales and Honeydi Velasquez started the GigBridge STEM competition, they likely didn’t know how to use Google Docs, let alone develop an app.
But the pair took home the top prize in the competition, after spending their afternoons with 11 other students from CGLA and East Lake Academy learning how to make apps.
GigBridge is a program that is designed to introduce students to mobile application development while raising awareness of the obesity epidemic. Thirteen students from GCLA and East Lake Academy participated in the after-school program led by Anjali Chandra, a Girls Preparatory School senior and founder of Global Excel, GigBridge’s umbrella nonprofit, and Jill Pala, GPS teacher and GigBridge tech mentor.
“When Anjali Chandra brought the idea of GigBridge app making [course] to me over the summer, I thought it was an excellent idea since the newest-generated jobs are computer- and technology-based,” said CGLA associate principal Maryo Beck. “A person could become a millionaire overnight with the creation of an app. Look how Candy Crush took off.”
Together, the students worked in the GigBridge program, learning from local health consultants and dietitians about preventing and reducing obesity, and used that knowledge to create a useful mobile app through Appy Pie, an online app creator. Spanish-speaking students were able to create their apps in their native language and work with mentors to translate them.