Students from four Delta high schools will be competing for the Game of Apps championship title against students from six other B.C. communities on Sunday, May 24.
These students are part of an exciting and unique after-school program where they learn to design, develop and build mobile apps from professional developers and designers in the local tech industry.
“My main reason for taking this course is for the experience and the mentors,” said Simrit, a North Delta Secondary student. “This was finally an opportunity to learn from someone that not only had industry experience but also could guide me step by step.”
Together with team members from Burnsview Secondary, Simrit’s team built a mobile app that helps address food wastage in our homes. This is in line with this season’s Game of Apps theme: Making a Change.
“We noticed a problem in our schools where many teenagers were constantly vaping,” said Carolyn, a student from Sands Secondary who together with her teammates from Delview built Vapeless. “Our app helps the user control their addiction to vaping and aids them in maintaining their vapeless and clean streak.”
The competition will be tough as the students go face to face (virtually through the online championships live stream) with 150 other equally determined students from New Westminster, Richmond, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North Vancouver and Vernon.
This season’s judges include:
• Rick Glumac (MLA Port Moody-Coquitlam, BC Parliamentary Secretary for Technology)
• Shawn Newmann (CEO, Domain7)
• Catherine Andersz (CEO, PDFTron)
• Teresa Virani (VP Marketing, Science World)
• Haig Armen (Lecturer, Emily Carr Interaction Design School)
• Erica Huang (Microsoft TEALS)
• Andrew Hawryshkewich (Lecturer, SFU School of Interactive Arts & Technology)
• Henry Leung (Lecturer, BCIT Digital Design & Development)
• Berenice Molina (UI/UX Design, Gasket Games Corp.)
The Game of Apps program’s primary goal is to expose students to how apps are developed while introducing them to the same tools and processes employed in the technology industry. The hope is that a number of them will choose to pursue careers in the technology industry.
“This is our first season in Delta,” said Roland Tecson, a software developer and founder of Game of Apps. “We piloted our remote learning program here with students connecting remote every Tuesday evening to go through lessons, exercises and group projects. This type of remote collaborative working is fairly common in the tech industry. Who could have predicted that this might be part of the new normal post-pandemic?”
Game of Apps hopes to expand to include more students from all high schools in Delta next season. Pre-registrations are now open. Game of Apps also plans to hire a number of students this summer through the Canada Summer Jobs program.
