“Activate”
Creators: Beatrice
Middle School Students from Mouse Design League (DIIT) @ I.S. 145 Joseph Pulitzer Magnet School of Innovation and Applied Learning
Type of Project:
- Product Development,
- UX/UI Design,
- Visual Art & Design
Themes of Project:
- Education/Schools,
- Resource Sharing
About this Project:
My app is about helping teens transition from childhood to adulthood. Originally, I was just going to make an app that helped middle and high school students organize their notes and assignments. However, as I did more research I realized that teens also need support with college applications, internships, and finding jobs. All these problems are very personal to me as a teen, and made me able to understand my users and empathize with them. By having different sections where the user can search for jobs, look at top colleges, and check grades my app helps teens get the support they need to succeed in the future.
Project Media
Images
Slides
Video
Links
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Fun
Innovative
Helpful
Great Design
Makes Me Think
Feedback from the Judges:
Hi, Beatrice!
I was truly impressed to see you confidently demonstrate the design and functionality of your app! Congratulations on presenting your project; the quality of your work is remarkable. You should be proud of the learning and personal growth you've achieved through this experience. I'd like to highlight a particular observation from the 'About' section: 'as I did more research, I realized that teens also need support.' Brilliant! This is the essence of a customer-centric product definition - designing and creating solutions tailored to what the customer or user needs! 😉👏📲
You are a change-maker, empathizing with your app users - the students. They will thank you for addressing a global social issue with digital tools, apps, and community-building initiatives.
I encourage you to keep learning about digital solutions and logo design 💚 (check out https://m3.material.io/). Furthermore, I recommend you to further develop your app prototype, from its design to coding, 📲💻 and test it to see how a real app would function. MIT provides an excellent resource, the App Inventor (check out https://appinventor.mit.edu/), which is incredibly helpful for first-time app developers. I encourage you to explore this resource and continue growing!
Your solution demo was fantastic! You clearly explained the solution (linking 3 core concepts for teens: School-College-Work) and demonstrated how the app works! I would also recommend turning this demo into a PITCH. There are numerous pitch videos on YouTube that can serve as examples and help hone your pitching skills. Remember, your pitch is a powerful tool for branding and marketing your solution. As a reference, you might consider the following pitch structure:
The Hook (10 seconds)
Introduce the Problem (30 seconds)
Problem In-depth (1 minute)
Your Technology (1 minute)
Feedback and Future (1 minute)
Wrap-up (30 seconds).
Finally, I'd like to extend my heartfelt congratulations once again!! Take pride in being the creator of 'Activate'!! Thank you! Keep up the excellent work and continue shaping the future. Your creativity and drive are truly inspiring. 😉👏📲
I was truly impressed to see you confidently demonstrate the design and functionality of your app! Congratulations on presenting your project; the quality of your work is remarkable. You should be proud of the learning and personal growth you've achieved through this experience. I'd like to highlight a particular observation from the 'About' section: 'as I did more research, I realized that teens also need support.' Brilliant! This is the essence of a customer-centric product definition - designing and creating solutions tailored to what the customer or user needs! 😉👏📲
You are a change-maker, empathizing with your app users - the students. They will thank you for addressing a global social issue with digital tools, apps, and community-building initiatives.
I encourage you to keep learning about digital solutions and logo design 💚 (check out https://m3.material.io/). Furthermore, I recommend you to further develop your app prototype, from its design to coding, 📲💻 and test it to see how a real app would function. MIT provides an excellent resource, the App Inventor (check out https://appinventor.mit.edu/), which is incredibly helpful for first-time app developers. I encourage you to explore this resource and continue growing!
Your solution demo was fantastic! You clearly explained the solution (linking 3 core concepts for teens: School-College-Work) and demonstrated how the app works! I would also recommend turning this demo into a PITCH. There are numerous pitch videos on YouTube that can serve as examples and help hone your pitching skills. Remember, your pitch is a powerful tool for branding and marketing your solution. As a reference, you might consider the following pitch structure:
The Hook (10 seconds)
Introduce the Problem (30 seconds)
Problem In-depth (1 minute)
Your Technology (1 minute)
Feedback and Future (1 minute)
Wrap-up (30 seconds).
Finally, I'd like to extend my heartfelt congratulations once again!! Take pride in being the creator of 'Activate'!! Thank you! Keep up the excellent work and continue shaping the future. Your creativity and drive are truly inspiring. 😉👏📲
Your hard work and thoughtfulness really shines through in your presentation and mockups of Activate -- congratulations!
I was taken by how you described your original intent (school-work organizer) and how that evolved. You're finding a need around college planning including jobs and internships and school discovery and then being open to changing your original idea is so important. In my work, when planning a website build it is so important to not get stuck with an early idea and to be open to a change that may be for the better. So, well done on allowing your ideas to continue to flow during your process and having the courage to make adjustments.
One thing to keep in mind about new ideas though is it can be easy to add new ideas and not let go of old ones. This situation has the potential to create a solution that tries to do too much and loses focus. So part of your product leadership is to challenge yourself to evaluate your new ideas and decide which ideas to keep and which might be best to leave behind -- all to maintain your focus on creating a great product that solves and important problem.
Your presentation was clear, and addressed a lot of detail about your app. Your wireframes and mockups are nicely done. I really liked in your presentation that you should them in context of your app but also zoomed in so viewers can see the details up close. I also appreciated how you considered some app conventions like privacy (turn off location tracking) and preferences (turn on dark mode).
Again, congrats on this great achievement.
I was taken by how you described your original intent (school-work organizer) and how that evolved. You're finding a need around college planning including jobs and internships and school discovery and then being open to changing your original idea is so important. In my work, when planning a website build it is so important to not get stuck with an early idea and to be open to a change that may be for the better. So, well done on allowing your ideas to continue to flow during your process and having the courage to make adjustments.
One thing to keep in mind about new ideas though is it can be easy to add new ideas and not let go of old ones. This situation has the potential to create a solution that tries to do too much and loses focus. So part of your product leadership is to challenge yourself to evaluate your new ideas and decide which ideas to keep and which might be best to leave behind -- all to maintain your focus on creating a great product that solves and important problem.
Your presentation was clear, and addressed a lot of detail about your app. Your wireframes and mockups are nicely done. I really liked in your presentation that you should them in context of your app but also zoomed in so viewers can see the details up close. I also appreciated how you considered some app conventions like privacy (turn off location tracking) and preferences (turn on dark mode).
Again, congrats on this great achievement.
Great idea! Immediately upon reading the description before I dove into the materials, I thought wow, there is definitely a market for this.
Since there are so many great features, perhaps you might want to consider adding a task management system with categories to help users filter (whether school, work, etc) based on their to do list.
Also, the fact that you iterated on your product idea as you engaged in user and market research is *exactly* what I do in my job as a product manager when Im developing new features and products! We call that data-driven decision-making, and your partners will always love to hear that youre doing it.
Since there are so many great features, perhaps you might want to consider adding a task management system with categories to help users filter (whether school, work, etc) based on their to do list.
Also, the fact that you iterated on your product idea as you engaged in user and market research is *exactly* what I do in my job as a product manager when Im developing new features and products! We call that data-driven decision-making, and your partners will always love to hear that youre doing it.
Hi Beatrice
Congratulations on the creation of your app, your innovative mindset shines through, I was incredibly inspired by your pitch, as you articulated the relevance of your creation to your audience based on your own experience. Making your app relatable to your target audience is incredibly important, demonstrating whats in it for me? drums up users interest, you did a great job articulating this organically through the features you developed, the clean design and your pitch.
What differentiate a product from good to great is the passion and drive you pour into your work, it makes your app and you as developer, stand up from the crowd. You achieved this.
Your presentation is well articulated and laid out, addressing the main functionalities about your app. Your app mockups are sharp, very nice work. I really liked your video and your clarity of thought, less is more and you followed this well; leaving me wanting to know more. I also appreciated how you considered some important features like privacy (turn off location tracking) and preferences (turn on dark mode), you may want to add a note to point out loss of functionality (if any) when the options are respectively turned on or off.
I also encourage you to leverage users experience before going live: build a small team to drive a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) exercise for a week or so, before launching, ask them to test every field and every feature and take screen shots of results, encourage them to use special characters and spaces... test maximum number of characters allowed in each field; use the back button unexpectedly during testing to reveal which field content may be cleared of content etc..
A proactive UAT will help you build in quality and not only launch a solid product but drive a really great user experience, promoting increasing usage of your app from the start and over time. Nothing beats simplicity of use and a great user experience free of glitches.
Hovering your mouse over fields could reveal helpful notes about the content to enter making it intuitive for the user and leaving it to them to read extra instructions if they need/want it
You could add a drop down menu to feature Tech companies internship/job fairs, tying to the fantastic map feature you offer in several use cases. Keep it simple, just point to their site, I recommend you explore having external links to your app opening in a new browser page, so your app remain open in the background.
Perhaps add links to best practice to write a college application, links from trusted sources to articles/ LinkedIn content, on how to write a resume
Add a member help button where users can report bugs for you to troubleshoot - and remove your mobile number as a reference (protect your privacy users could call you from anywhere around the world in their time zone)
Congratulations once again on a really great project, great work all around, you should be very proud.
Congratulations on the creation of your app, your innovative mindset shines through, I was incredibly inspired by your pitch, as you articulated the relevance of your creation to your audience based on your own experience. Making your app relatable to your target audience is incredibly important, demonstrating whats in it for me? drums up users interest, you did a great job articulating this organically through the features you developed, the clean design and your pitch.
What differentiate a product from good to great is the passion and drive you pour into your work, it makes your app and you as developer, stand up from the crowd. You achieved this.
Your presentation is well articulated and laid out, addressing the main functionalities about your app. Your app mockups are sharp, very nice work. I really liked your video and your clarity of thought, less is more and you followed this well; leaving me wanting to know more. I also appreciated how you considered some important features like privacy (turn off location tracking) and preferences (turn on dark mode), you may want to add a note to point out loss of functionality (if any) when the options are respectively turned on or off.
I also encourage you to leverage users experience before going live: build a small team to drive a User Acceptance Testing (UAT) exercise for a week or so, before launching, ask them to test every field and every feature and take screen shots of results, encourage them to use special characters and spaces... test maximum number of characters allowed in each field; use the back button unexpectedly during testing to reveal which field content may be cleared of content etc..
A proactive UAT will help you build in quality and not only launch a solid product but drive a really great user experience, promoting increasing usage of your app from the start and over time. Nothing beats simplicity of use and a great user experience free of glitches.
Hovering your mouse over fields could reveal helpful notes about the content to enter making it intuitive for the user and leaving it to them to read extra instructions if they need/want it
You could add a drop down menu to feature Tech companies internship/job fairs, tying to the fantastic map feature you offer in several use cases. Keep it simple, just point to their site, I recommend you explore having external links to your app opening in a new browser page, so your app remain open in the background.
Perhaps add links to best practice to write a college application, links from trusted sources to articles/ LinkedIn content, on how to write a resume
Add a member help button where users can report bugs for you to troubleshoot - and remove your mobile number as a reference (protect your privacy users could call you from anywhere around the world in their time zone)
Congratulations once again on a really great project, great work all around, you should be very proud.
Feedback from the Community:
Ms.Estevez 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS145Q
Awesome job, B! So proud of you for always using your voice to advocate & problem solve for students. Such a cool & effective app. ⭐ 🦁
Marcus 👏 a Middle School Student
I really thank you for helping all types of people to find job listings easier.
👏 a Middle School Student
good job! love your work
Mateo 👏 a Middle School Student from Jackson heights
It a good app
alisson 👏 a Middle School Student
This app is very helpful
Jonathan 👏 a Middle School Student from Spain
I like how you made an app to help students for their applications for schools.
👏 a Middle School Student
i think this is a good idea but actual kids may use this and things may get out of hand
👏 a Middle School Student
I love your app Beatrice.
👏 a Middle School Student
It can provide a better future for the schoolers by researching about useful resources and teens also need support with college applications, internships, and finding jobs.
👏 a Middle School Student
this helps us learn how you can change now instead of later
Ms. Piccini 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from I.S.145
This is an excellent app idea, Beatrice! I really liked your rationale behind developing your app: teens absolutely need tons of support with making decisions and plans for their future...and this app could be it! Nice work.
Lisa 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from Queens, NY
I love this project. I hope it goes into full development.
Ms. Mingos 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS145
Great design and a useful resource for students!! Well done Beatrice!!👏
Ms. Mingos 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS145
Great design and very useful resource for students. Well done Beatrice!!👏
Ms. Klapman 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from I.S. 145
Great idea B. You saw a need for something to help young adults making the transition from middle school to high school to college. You came up with a simple yet an affective design that anyone can easily use. Amazing job.
👏 a Middle School Student
Good job doing the app and hope you do more in the future.
Hi 👏 a Middle School Student from New York
I really like how students are able to make apps,this could help the students learn more about technology and scripting to make a app as well!
lumi 👏 a Middle School Student from I.S.145Q - Jackson Heights
Greetings, Beatrice. I love your app. This is a job well done, I am proud of you. I knew you could do it.
👏 a Teacher and/or Educator
Amaaaaaaaaaaazing
👏 a Middle School Student
cool app
Jennifer 👏 a Technology Professional from Lawrence ks
Fantastic idea. Easy for teens to navigate. Useful, well designed app!
👏 a Middle School Student
Great work. This could help many people
👏 a Middle School Student
This helps young people like me transition from Middle School to High School, and from High School to College.
👏 a Middle School Student
Like the design 👍
Aaron 👏 a Community Member from Baton Rouge, LA
Beatrice, this project takes on a tricky obstacle course kids have to scramble through. You have your eyes open and are helping others look before they leap.
Aimee 👏 a Community Member from Queens, NY
What a fantastic project idea, drawing upon your own personal experiences to find where the need is for students. Awesome work! 👏🏻
👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from Queens
Great job!!!
anonymous 👏 a Middle School Student
Amazing
Jayleen🥰 👏 a Middle School Student from Ecuador
Wow I would use this! This app looks so reliable and I feel it would help me with all my necessities for school and for a good education to help me stay organized.
tenzin 👏 a Middle School Student from tibet
this can help me totally!! i have a tough time looking for my grades
sophia 👏 a Middle School Student from dominican republic
this can help me understand more things for the future
👏 a Middle School Student from idk
this is very helpful to find out your grades and it could help u to be responsible
👏 a Middle School Student
Great design for the people
Janelly 👏 a Middle School Student from Janelly
Such a very helpful useful app to use and love how the style it its a very good app🌞🌖
👏 a Middle School Student
I dont like it that much but I love how it tell your grades and that it has a gps
👏 a Middle School Student
Great video ever big thumbs up
Tim 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from University of Roehampton, London, U.K.
This is an easy to use, innovative, and extremely useful app. Ive enjoyed hearing about it. It would certainly be helpful for lots and lots of students in the U.K. . Nice work!
👏 a Parent and/or Guardian
Wow I wish my son had had a resource like this to help him organize and navigate through High School and college applications.
James 👏 a Community Member from NYC
Great idea. Will give kids a greater sense of confidence as they navigate school and getting that first real job!
Marcy 👏 a Community Member from Queens
When is this going to be on the app store? I need it yesterday!
👏 a Community Member
This is an incredible app. It is a very thoughtful and useful tool for any teenager. I could see it being expanded to other uses as well in areas such as metal health. Fantastic work for anyone.
skuta 👏 a Community Member from father from Manhattan
This is great. If we had it when my daughter dealt with this relevant question, I would have understood what it takes to move on. Better conversation for sure.
Edwin 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian
This has all the simplicity of a genius idea! I know so many kids who could have used this.
Sharon 👏 a Community Member from New York City
Clear design. Very useful in helping teens get themselves organized rather than relying on others. First rate app!
Daniel 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian
Amazing Bea!!!! I wish I would have had access to something this helpful, innovative and vital when I was your age. An unlimited amount of people will truly benefit from this. Bravo!
Miles 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from Brooklyn
Very impressive and an excellent idea, Beait's a mare's nest out there!
👏 a Middle School Student
this helps us learn how you can change not only now but also later
Joseph 👏 a Middle School Student from New York
I think this could be helpful to some students.
👏 a Middle School Student
i like this app
👏 a Middle School Student
A very well-made app that could help many, including me, should get developed.
Ashley 👏 a Middle School Student
I like how you made this because you can help lots of students to pass.
👏 a Middle School Student from mexico
cool map
👏 a Middle School Student
I think this is a interesting app
👏 a Middle School Student
Amazing app I can see how kids can go crazy for this app
Hadryan 👏 a Middle School Student
it is very help full
Nicole 👏 a Middle School Student
Very helpful!!!
David 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from London
Great to see a student intervention into the political and social context of the education environment. Well done Bea!
👏 a Community Member from Crockenhill,Kent, UK
A well-thought out project and user-friendly App, with required information speedily accessible.
Well done Great Niece!
Labor omnia vincit semper!
Good luck from Great Uncle Louis
Well done Great Niece!
Labor omnia vincit semper!
Good luck from Great Uncle Louis
Rob 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from London
Great job Bea! Turning a stumble through minefields into a confident stroll through this next vital life stage.
Marc 👏 a Community Member from MIT
As someone who had no idea what he was doing in high school and ended up utterly detached when it came time to think about college (and ended up dropping out twice before finally finishing college), I know that guidance and assistance in those transitional years can be crucial, and appreciate the recognition of that with this app and the desire driving it to minimize that for students today and the future. And am floored that someone at that same tumultuous age can take the chaos of that age and address it with thought and solutions rather than succumb to it (as I did).
S. Gonzalez 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS 145, Q
Amazing work!
Guerrero 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS 145Q
Wow Beatrice! This very impressive and useful!
Geri 👏 a Parent and/or Guardian from a Staff Member from IS145Q
Beatrice you did a wonderful job. It's very thoughtful and a great tool for teens to use. Great job!!!
Ms. Titus 👏 a Teacher and/or Educator from IS 145Q
Beautifully done Beatrice! Outstanding presentation as well!
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