ICT Explorers Success!
On Saturday 4 August a group of incredibly talented Newington boys competed in the final of the NSW Young ICT Competition, with some superb results!
In the younger years, Michael Knox (7/LE) came 2nd for his Solar Powered MacBook Pro charger called Instacharge, while the Year 8 team of Harry Johnson (8/FL) and Cameron Kirk (8/KL) earned a merit prize for their photo app Torc.
Turning the day from memorable to unforgettable, however, were our Year 10 Team of Darayus Nanavati (10/KL) and Rowan Whiteman (10/JN). Together, these two boys finished first in their category for their School Planner App design, called iSchool.
The pair were so successful, in fact, that they have sinced been approached by both UNSW and the NSW Department of Education to turn their design into reality.
When ICT Facilitator Mr Adam Carron first encouraged the boys to enter the competition, even he could not have foreseen the success that has found Darayus and Rowan. For a couple of boys not even in their senior years of high school, this achievement is even more remarkable.
iSchool was originally conceived as an iPhone/iPad touch application to help students streamline the various communication platforms that Newington has implemented.
Their rationale behind the project was that staying in-sync with multiple online systems is difficult, even without the stress of exams, homework and co-curricular activities.
Clearly, the judges agreed, awarding the pair first place for their innovative use of new technologies.
Darayus and Rowan probably aren’t the only Newington boys hoping the app gets made―their design proposal features an inbuilt diary (complete with homework and assessments updated live from Newington’s communication system), as well as a full timetable and a subject-teacher database. The sheer scope of the project itself is undoubtedly very impressive.
However the success of all the Newington boys involved could not have been achieved without the initiative of Mr Carron, who saw an opportunity for the boys to apply their ICT learning in the classroom to real life situations.
The ICT Young Explorers competitions offers a channel through which budding young innovators such as our boys can present their project to a judging panel of academia, industry partners and professionals.
This was Newington’s first year in the competition, and it most certainly will not be our last. Congratulations Michael, Harry, Cameron, Darayus, Rowan and Mr Carron for your extraordinary achievements!
