With two showcases done, Dreams for Schools hosted its third showcase of the Fall 2019 AppJam+ season on Wednesday, December 4th. Students from 4 of the 9 Santa Ana Unified School District middle schools presented the mobile applications they had developed over a 10-week period. This AppJamboree was held at the University of California, Irvine and featured a friendly competition between the attending teams.
With two showcases done, Dreams for Schools hosted its third showcase of the Fall 2019 AppJam+ season on Wednesday, December 4th. Students from 4 of the 9 middle schools in the Santa Ana Unified School District presented the mobile applications they had developed over a 10-week period. This AppJamboree was held at the University of California, Irvine and featured a friendly competition between the attending teams.
Students from Carr Intermediate, McFadden Intermediate, Romero-Cruz Academy & Mendez Fundamental presented their apps and judges had the incredibly tough task of selecting the top four teams to take 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.
Check out all of the hard work the students put in this season in their school videos.1st Place Winners of Google Chrome Books – Puzzle Dungeon from Carr Intermediate
App Name: Save the Turtles
Mentor: Patrick N.
Team Members: Adan M., Daniel N.,ulien C., Nathan N.
App Description: Save the Turtles is a fun and interactive game about saving
the turtles! Help guide the turtle away from the dangerous plastic debris in the
ocean. The purpose of this game is to inform people about the harmful effects
of plastic debris in the ocean, while still being a fun game to play.
Technical Components Used: Canvas, Clock, Image Sprites, Labels, Buttons,
Audio, Touch Movement, Random Number Generator
2nd Place Winners of BB-8 Spheros – The Survivors from McFadden Intermediate
App Name: Trash Invasion
Mentor: John L.
Team Members: Benjamin D., Nolmer C.
App Description: Our game teaches others on the responsibility of pollution and
what we can do to combat it. The game is based on trash that have turned into
zombies due to the heavy pollution earth has reached. In order to stop the trash
zombies the player must answer pollution questions in order to save the planet,
each successful answer leads the player closer into saving the planet from these
zombies.
Technical Components Used:Global and local variables, timer, canvas, list, buttons, procedures, audio, graphics
3rd Place Winners of Fire Tablets – The Blue Squad from Romero-Cruz Academy
App Name: A Way to Find Home
Mentor: Christopher L.
Team Members: Dante O., Jason Q., Jesus M.
App Description: A Way to Find Home is an RPG where you control BluBoi a man who has lost his home in a world taken over by Blombies. Armed with his trusty Recyclotron 3000, he must fight his way through blombies in order to save the world and find a new home.
Technical Components Used: Audio, projectiles, sprites, global variables used by all screens. Player and enemy movement.
Best Poster Winners of Target Gift Cards– NASAS Instinct from Carr Intermediate
App Name: Save the Rocket
Mentor: Sammy T.
Team Members: Alex R., Andrew S., Nathaly L., Sherlin T.
App Description: Astronauts begin their quest to launch the rocket and to
explore the moon. As the rocket makes its way to the moon, they encounter
difficulties. There are many asteroids blocking the way in space. To help save
the rocket, Users will have to destroy more than 100 asteroids within 30 seconds
to clear the pathway.
Technical Components Used: Timer, Databases, Audio, Randomized numbers,
Image sprites, Canvas to display the astroids, User Interface features and
functions and for users to touch and destroy astroids, Global Variables to store
the total amount of asteroids touched by the Users, and many If/Then statements.
Best Stage Presentation Winners of Target Gift Cards – TheCoders from McFadden Intermediate
App Name: Galactic Threat
Mentor: Rigel S.
Team Members: Andy C., Dev V., Oscar A.
App Description: Aliens have invaded our planet. It’s up to our hero to save the
survivors being held captive by the aliens. The hero needs to use its arsenal of
weapons and math skills to save the imprisoned humans.
Technical Components Used:Graphics, Audio, Clocks/Timers, Buttons/Movable
Sprites, Functioning gun feature, Multiple-choice, Character Select
This is our second time working with the Santa Ana Unified District to bring AppJam+ to the middle schools in the district. The videos, presentations & posters students make in support of their app improve each year, as well as the breadth of technical skills the students learn in the areas of game design, graphic editing tool, and sound editing. To create a mobile application in the short span of only 10 weeks is no small feat, yet it is one that the participating students have obviously taken head on.
Thank you to all of the AppJamborees for your support of a program that not only helps participants gain technical skills and knowledge of possible STEM career paths but also increases each participant's belief in themselves and their aptitude for a career in STEM fields.
A huge thank you to all of our partners for helping to make this a reality. Thank you Kingston Technology, Kay Family Foundation, Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, Sun Family Foundation, Croul Family Foundation, Cox, Wells Fargo, Western Digital Foundation, Union Bank, and Luna Grill.
Thank you to our judges who listened to our student presentations!
Photos from the event are available at this link!