A team from Mamaroneck High School took home top honors at the 2nd Annual #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl on Friday, where more than 250 students competed at Pace University’s Pleasantville campus to see who had developed the best mobile application after weeks of design and development. In all, teams from eight high schools and colleges took home cash awards.

Presented by County Executive Robert P. Astorino and Pace’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems, the competition challenged students to create an app that will improve the quality of life for people age 65 and older. Ideas ranged from health and memory to finance and money.

“The #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl sends a strong statement to our students – as well as our communities and businesses – that Westchester is a place where smart things are happening,” Astorino said. “We’re on the cutting edge of so many industries, from healthcare to information technology to biotech and more. And we wanted to showcase that Westchester has the highly educated young workforce that makes it easy for businesses to recruit and retain the talent they need. We say Westchester is the ‘smart spot’ for business, and this event makes that very apparent.”

The winning team – The Rock Club from Mamaroneck High School – created an app that serves as a “one stop shop” for seniors to resolve technical issues. After interviewing seniors regarding their most common issues with technology, the team found that most fit into three broad categories: problems with vision, problems with hearing, and problems with dexterity.

“We hope to solve all these with our app,” the team said in its presentation to judges. “Seniors rely on the younger generation to help them with technology. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way in which seniors could use their mobile devices without consulting others?”

The App Bowl kicked off with a pep rally at the Westchester County Center in February, followed by a series of workshops focused on developing the technical skills of design and coding for mobile devices. The completed apps will be available for download via the Apple Store and/or the Google Play Store.

“This generation of students is remarkable in that they love technology and they care deeply about their own communities and families. As a result, these digital natives have the intuition and the technical skills to design apps that will help their older relatives and neighbors who increasingly rely on mobile technologies for their health and well-being,” said Dr. Jonathan Hill, interim Dean of Pace University's Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

William M. Mooney, III, director of the Westchester County Office of Economic Development, added: “Westchester is proud to support the Mobile App Development Bowl because it shows people everywhere that Westchester is a place where talents can be developed, displayed and rewarded – now and in the future.”

Photo caption: The Rock Club of Mamaroneck High School was the Grand Prize winning team in the 2016 #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl. From left, Dr. Jonathan Hill, Interim Dean of Pace University’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems; Mamaroneck teacher Jigar Jadav; student Sam Blumberg, student Max Bobby, and County Executive Robert P. Astorino. The awards ceremony was held April 15 at Pace’s Pleasantville campus.

2016 #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl Awards:

Grand Prize: The #WestchesterSmart Award
$1,000 cash award; Panasonic tech gear
The Rock Club, Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck

In addition to the grand prize, cash prizes of $500, $350 and $150 were awarded in four different categories:

The Digital Catnip Creativity Award
First Place: Team Discover
Pace University, New York City & Pleasantville
Second Place: Touch MS
Pace University, New York City
Third Place: Oceans Seven
Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck

The Mobile App Usability Award
First Place: Remember
Irvington High School, Irvington
Second Place: Need 2 Feed
Pace University, Pleasantville & New York City
Third Place: Vybe
Mount Vernon High School, Mount Vernon

The Mobile App Functionality Award
First Place: Dank Account
Mahwah High School, Mahwah, NJ
Second Place: ICB
Pace University, New York City
Third Place: OX 4D48S3
Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck

The ACCA Finance & Money App Award
First Place: Lincoln Lancers
Lincoln High School, Yonkers
Second Place: Pelicans
Pace University/Schreiber High School, New York City & Port Washington
Third Place: Bingo
Westchester Community College, Valhalla

Thank you to the following co-sponsors for making the Mobile App Bowl possible for our youth: Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA); Alzheimer's Association; the Bee-Line bus system; The Bristal Assisted Living; Burke Medical Research Institute; Digital Catnip; Liberty Lines; Mount Vernon Educational Foundation, Inc.; NewYork-Presbyterian; Panasonic; Saberpoint, LLC; Tata Consultancy Services Limited; Westchester County Office of Economic Development and Pace University and its alumni, including Ursuline Foley ’91, Nancy Goodman '77 and Virginia Letourneau '85.

The following schools participated in the #WestchesterSmart Mobile App Development Bowl:

High Schools

Ardsley High School
Bergen County Technical High School-Teterboro
Blind Brook High School
Byram Hills High School
Clarkstown High School North
Edward R. Murrow High School
Fox Lane High School
Hendrick Hudson High School
High School for Health Professions and Human Services
Horace Greeley High School
Lincoln High School
Mamaroneck High School
Mahwah High School
Mount Vernon High School
Nellie A. Thornton High School
Ossining High School
Palisade Preparatory School
Pelham Memorial High School
Pleasantville High School
Poly Prep Country Day School
St Francis Preparatory School
Scarsdale High School
Stuyvesant High School
Westlake High School
White Plains High School

Colleges and Universities

Bronx Community College
Manhattan College
Manhattanville College
Pace University
The College of Westchester
SUNY Westchester Community College