(New York, NY and Raleigh, NC) – July 13, 2022: Lenovo and NAF announced the 2022 Lenovo Scholar Network “Fan Favorite” mobile app honoree today at NAF Next 2022, NAF’s dynamic annual professional development conference, held in Dallas, TX this year. The winning team was chosen out of five team finalists by online voters. NAF Next brings together education, business, and community leaders to network and share ideas for how to increase opportunities, grow partnerships, and improve learning experiences and outcomes for high school students nationwide.
The 2022 national Lenovo Scholar Network “Fan Favorite” winner is WobbleByte from Mallard Creek High School, Academy of Engineering, in Charlotte, NC. This app assists users in creating stronger passwords to protect their accounts and educates them on what exactly online users face daily. The program creates a random password, using a combination of numbers, upper- and lower-case letters, and special characters.
The mobile app competition is part of the Lenovo Scholar Network, a partnership that Lenovo and NAF created in 2014 to encourage greater interest in STEM subjects, among high school students in under-invested in communities, while enabling them with the entrepreneurial and technology skills needed to pursue careers in computer science, programming and engineering.
In its first year, 10 NAF IT academies were invited with a goal of reaching 250 students, surpassing that goal by serving more than 400 students nationwide. In conjunction with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) App Inventor, a project within the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), Lenovo Scholar Network students have the opportunity to use MIT App Inventor to develop Android mobile apps using Lenovo devices. NAF and MIT work together to provide technical assistance to teachers in the Lenovo Scholar Network and to develop support materials for teachers using MIT App Inventor.
This year’s Mobile App Development Competition included teams of students from NAF academies across the United States, who spent months developing applications that will be of service in their classrooms and communities. During a continued time of uncertainty – and needing to pivot to do their work differently – these young people demonstrated innovation, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, as they adjusted to a third school year that was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to WobbleByte announced today, the other four winning app teams from the national competition who presented were:
- Enloe High School, Academy of Health Sciences, Raleigh, NC
- The app is a comprehensive guide to allergy management and deals largely with three primary components: learning about allergies, logging allergies, and responding to allergies.
- Enloe High School, Academy of Health Sciences, Raleigh, NC
- This all-in-one app is designed to increase the performance of young athletes and helps to keep them on track with their personal goals, stay motivated, and remain informed. A key element is providing nutritional information on meals suited for a sport or physical activity.
- Clarence High School, Academy of Finance, Clarence, NY
- Designed to bring students together from a wide variety of schools in one place to promote educational discussion, while ensuring student safety.
- Clarence High School, Academy of Finance, Clarence, NY
- This app is a simple way to connect users with local Veterans Affairs (VA) sites and quickly direct them to the website and location of health care facilities, pharmacies, benefits, cemeteries, and urgent and emergency care locations.
Quotes:
“On behalf of Lenovo and NAF, congratulations to all of this year’s winners and to WobbleByte as this year’s ‘Fan Favorite,’” said Matt Zielinski, Lenovo EVP, president of International Markets and a member of NAF’s Board of Directors. “It’s exciting to see teamwork and innovation every year from the Lenovo Scholar Network, and we are proud to help inspire NAF students to use technology to better their communities and the world.”
“Congratulations to our 2022 Lenovo Scholar Network ‘Fan Favorite’ winning team and all of our students who participated in this year’s competition,” said Lisa Dughi, NAF Chief Executive Officer. “We are so proud of your commitment to the program and applaud all of your hard work! Thank you to Lenovo for your support and partnership in ensuring that the next generation of innovators are Future Ready.”
###
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$70 billion revenue global technology powerhouse, ranked #159 in the Fortune Global 500, employing 75,000 people around the world, and serving millions of customers every day in 180 markets. Focused on a bold vision to deliver smarter technology for all, Lenovo has built on its success as the world’s leading PC player by expanding into new growth areas of infrastructure, mobile, solutions and services. This transformation together with Lenovo’s world-changing innovation is building a more inclusive, trustworthy, and sustainable digital society for everyone, everywhere. To find out more visit https://www.lenovo.com,and read about the latest news via our StoryHub.
About NAF
NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career, and future ready. NAF’s educational design is uniquely comprehensive in its approach to skill development, enabling students of all backgrounds to participate in a meaningful education and gives businesses the opportunity to shape America’s future workforce by transforming the learning environment to integrate STEM infused, career-relevant curricula and work-based learning experiences, including internships.
NAF has grown from one NAF Academy of Finance in New York City to hundreds of academies across the country focusing on growing industries including finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences; and support programs of study that are aligned with the National Career Clusters Framework.
During the 2021-22 school year, over 120,000 students attended 618 NAF academies across 35 states, plus DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. In 2021, NAF academies reported 99% of seniors graduated with 87% of graduates planning to go to college. For more information, please visit: https://naf.org/.
Contacts
Media:
Lenovo
David Hamilton, (919) 908-5153
dhamilton1@lenovo.com
NAF
Courtney Savoia, (201) 407-8513