Spring 2019 Irvine AppJamboree Recap & Results - Dreams for Schools
Spring 2019 Santa Ana Unified AppJamboree Recap & Results
May 24, 2019
Spring 2019 Placentia – Yorba Linda Unified AppJamboree Recap & Results
June 13, 2019

Spring 2019 Irvine AppJamboree Recap & Results

Our third AppJamboree of the Spring 2019 AppJam+ season was hosted on June 5th at UC Irvine, where students from 3 schools from the Santa Ana and Garden Grove areas presented the mobile applications they had developed over a 10-week period. A total of 10 teams competed for prizes and showed off their technological prowess.

On June 5th, 2019 we hosted our third AppJamboree of the AppJam+ season at UC Irvine, where students from The Prentice School, the Orange County Childrens' Therapeutic Arts Center, and the Boys and Girls Club of Garden Grove Irvine Intermediate presented the mobile applications they had developed over a 10-week period. This AppJamboree event featured presentations from 10 teams.

With nearly 50 middle school students from these schools participating, judges had the challenging task of selecting three teams to take home the prize. In addition to the friendly judging competition, a "Best Poster" award was voted on by participating students and judges also scored teams to receive a "Best Stage Presentation" award.

Get a glimpse of all of the hard work the students put in this season in their school videos.

1st Place Winners of Google Chrome Books – Coding Scholars from Irvine Intermediate, BGCGG
App Name: Save the Sea
Mentor: Brenda C.
Team Members: Isaiah A., Sarah A., Alicia B., Emma H.
App Description: Save the Sea is a game app that aims to promote saving wildlife in the sea. It does this by showing the different types of people we see at beaches (such as scuba divers and surfers) picking up trash along the shore. The sea and beach in the game is very polluted, therefore the trash does not stop coming. The characters have to keep catching the trash before it goes into the ocean and damages the sea life. The game focuses on saving the turtles that are often harmed by the plastics found in the ocean, among other animals and trashes. By spreading awareness of this issue, the app hopes to inspire those who play it to not litter and to be mindful of the amount of plastic they use in their day to day life.
Technical Components Used: Animation, image sprites, clock, random selection generator, lists, canvas, variables, labels, buttons, databases


2nd Place Winners of BB-8 Spheros – Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Blobfish from Irvine Intermediate, BGCGG
App Name: Recycling Revolution
Mentor: Natalia E.
Team Members: Vincent H., Aaliyah V., Zulema C.
App Description: Recycling Revolution is a fast paced game centered around learning how to organize recyclables into their respective bins. Play by sorting all of the waste into the correct bin, but think fast and avoid the pollution monster at all costs!
Technical Components Used: The game utilizes random numbers to generate recyclables, global variables, loops and clocks for animation, and image sprites on a canvas!


 

3rd Place Winners of Amazon Fire Tablets – G-Force from The Prentice School
App Name: The Animals of Justice
Mentor: Ana S. & Joseph H.
Team Members: Lorgan N., Kiera H., Adam W., Rosa L., Johnny W.
App Description: The Animals of Justice is a game to spread awareness about ocean pollution. You can pick your animal and destroy trash falling into the ocean and save the planet.
Technical Components Used: Databases for loading different pieces of trash and characters, randomized lists for pieces of trash, canvas fro drawing, audio for background music, clocks and timers for keeping track of how long the game should go, procedures and global variables to keep the game going.


Best Presentation Winners of Solar Robot Car Kits – The Fikuhs from Irvine Intermediate, BGCGG
App Name: Wildlife Wars
Mentor: Marieen E.
Team Members: Kristanyia M.,Naelynn M., Kathleen N.
App Description: Our game is a take on the famous game, Family Feud, where instead of miscellaneous questions, the user is prompted with questions pertaining to the environment. If the user gets a question right, their score goes up by 10 points and a green check mark appears. If the user gets a question wrong, the score goes down by 10 points and a red X appears. Our goal is to make a fun way to help others learn more about being environmentally conservative.
Technical Components: Vertical and horizontal arrangements, timers, clocks, randomizing lists, adding to variables, setting arrangements to visible and invisible, global variables to store possible questions and answers, making images visible and invisible, audio

Best Poster Winners of Snap Circuits – G-Force from The Prentice School
App Name: The Animals of Justice
Mentor: Ana S. & Joseph H.
Team Members: Lorgan N., Kiera H., Adam W., Rosa L., Johnny W.
App Description: The Animals of Justice is a game to spread awareness about ocean pollution. You can pick your animal and destroy trash falling into the ocean and save the planet.
Technical Components Used: Databases for loading different pieces of trash and characters, randomized lists for pieces of trash, canvas fro drawing, audio for background music, clocks and timers for keeping track of how long the game should go, procedures and global variables to keep the game going.


 

Closing Remarks

This AppJamboree marked a milestone for Dreams for Schools, as we were able to expand the AppJam+ program to serve students with learning disabilities, a first for this program. Every single AppJam+ student stepped up to the plate and learned something new, tackling the daunting challenge of app development head on to create some truly astounding work.

Thank you to all of our attendees for your support of a program that not only helps its participants gain technical skills and knowledge of possible STEM career paths but also increases their belief in themselves and their aptitude for a career in STEM fields.

Thank you to our partner, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, for helping support our pilot to bring AppJam+ to students with learning differences.

A shoutout to all of our partners for helping to make this a reality. Thanks to Kingston Technology, Kay Family Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, Sun Family Foundation, Croul Family Foundation, Cox, Technossus, Wells Fargo, and Western Digital Foundation.

A special thanks to all of our judges: Adriana Galdamez, Sinat Thon, Dave Templeton, Kent Cheng, Penny Lee, Jim Huey, Vivian Long, Christina O'Connell, Robin Wachner, Jaspreet Kaur, Bharati Jha, Darren Denenberg, Nihar Shah, Kelly Lank, Omar Asadi, Eric Horowtiz, Hadar Ziv, and Leonard Juska!

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