For the next two months, Westchester and Fairfield county students participating in a new mobile app competition will code for good.
Teams of students participating in the Westchester Smart Mobile App Development Bowl will create applications to help those  afflicted with dementia and Alzheimer”™s disease to manage the effects.
“To get a real project, one where there”™s a vulnerable population, and to be able to apply their knowledge, that”™s better than solving a problem in a textbook,” said William McGrath, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Pace University Westchester, whose Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems teamed with Westchester County government to create the contest.
The David and Minnie Berk Foundation also provided funding for the competition, which was announced in January by Westchester County Executive Robert P. Astorino as one of five economic development initiatives planned for the county this year.
“Our goal is twofold,” Astorino said. “Challenge high school and college students to push the boundaries of their potential and improve the lives of people suffering from these debilitating diseases.”
McGrath said the contest is an opportunity for students to get experience within their fields of interest and feel the gratification of helping others. He said having hands-on experience is increasingly important in the job search.
Teams from more than 30 high schools and colleges in the tristate area are participating in the first year of the competition, sponsored by IBM, the Burke Rehabilitation Hospital, The Bristal, Liberty Lines and Caregiver Collaborative.
Astorino introduced the teams at a celebration Feb. 27 on the Westchester County Center basketball court. Students ran through a tunnel of cheering Westchester Knicks dancers, Marching Cobras of Westchester drummers and the Pace University mascot to begin the competition, which Astorino called “Tech Madness.”
The teams will reconvene at Pace University on April 17 for the announcement of the contest winners, who will receive cash prizes and paid internships with Westchester County businesses, according to county officials. The winners will be chosen by a panel of judges.
“Usually when you pilot something you like to start small, but we learned Westchester doesn”™t do small,” said Bernice J. Houle, associate dean of the School of Computer Science and Information Systems.
Houle said a majority of the students in the competition have probably never created a mobile app before. To help them, Pace professors and students will offer workshops for the competitors, with at least one being offered on campus and some online. The school also will provide online resources. Pace will focus on helping Android programmers, and IBM will help iOS programmers, Houle said.
If the competition happens again, older students will end up teaching and helping younger students, Houle said. She predicts the apps will improve each year.
Rye High School ninth-graders Isabelle Oktay and Sara Brizio are among the competitors. Their team of 15, the Rye Garnets, has already divided into coders, idea leaders and organizers.
Brizio said she is trying to learn more about coding from different websites and her father, a technical engineer. Her team”™s initial app idea is to target all the parts of the brain and try to stop them from deteriorating.
Oktay joined the competition because she is interested in science, especially biology. While she”™ll learn more about brain diseases, she said the contest also will create more of a community at school because of the teamwork aspect.
“I can feel people already getting into those leadership roles,” Oktay said. “At school people don”™t want to step up, but now they care because of the cause.”
