Harrison High Schoolers Win National Contest with App to Help Homeless, Hungry

Students from Harrison High School in Harrison, NY were named Best in Nation winners in the fourth annual Verizon Innovative App Challenge for their mobile app concept that would combat hunger, by giving consumers a chance to pay-it-forward when they order food online and buy a meal for a person in need at the same time.

They found out they were winners at a presentation ceremony Tuesday in Harrison.

The “Pay-It-Forward App” team included Paul Bilotta, Christine Cardascia, Ricky Harris, Ben Struhl, Thomas Alvarado and Josh Munoz. Their advisor is teacher Diane Frawley.

The national competition, created by the Verizon Foundation in partnership with the Technology Student Association, challenged student teams across the country to come up with ideas for mobile apps that could solve a problem in their schools or communities, with no coding skills required.

In addition to winning a $20,000 grant from the Verizon Foundation for their school, the “Pay-It-Forward App” team students will work alongside experts from the Center for Mobile Learning at the MIT Media Lab to turn their concepts into real, working mobile applications. Once complete, the team will own the full rights to their app, which becomes available for download in Google Play. In June, they will present their apps in person at the National TSA Conference in Nashville, courtesy of Verizon.

The “Pay-It-Forward App” team is one of nine national winning teams – eight Best in Nation and one Fan Favorite Award winner – from across the country.

The Verizon Innovative App Challenge is a national no-coding-skills needed competition, created by the Verizon Foundation in partnership with the Technology Student Association, and presented in collaboration with MIT Media Lab, that challenges student teams across the country to come up with ideas for apps that could solve a problem in their schools or communities. This year, for the first time, Verizon invited the public to play a role in the Innovative App Challenge by casting a vote for the Fan Favorite award.

PHOTO: Group photo, left to right: Phil Puthumana, Program Manager, Verizon Foundation; April Horton, Director of External Affairs and Government Affairs, Verizon; Steve Siciliano, Principal, Harrison High School; Paul Bilotta, Student, Harrison High School; Diane Frawley, Teacher and Advisor, Harrison High School; Thomas Alvarado, Student, Harrison High School; Christine Cardascia, Student, Harrison High School; Ricky Harris, Student, Harrison High School; Josh Munoz, Student, Harrison High School; Ben Struhl, Student, Harrison High School; Joan O’Keefe, Director of Science and Technology Education, Harrison High School; Ron Belmont, Mayor of Harrison; Andrew Testa, PR Manager of the Northeast Market, Verizon Wireless