By Jessica Micallef
Natalie, Emily, Janella, Christine and Holly are tech superheroes.
The five Salesian College Sunbury students won the state and national heat of the Tech Girl Superhero Challenge at Melbourne last month for their creation of an app known as Codie.
The challenge helps increase female participation in the area of computer science.
Designed by the students, Codie – the app’s character, checks in with young people, offers space to get help with developing skills in reflection, breathing and de-escalation and has a planner to help with time management.
The students have been invited to fly to Silicon Valley in August next year to meet with app developers to pitch Codie to tech giants Facebook and Google.
Principal Mark Brockhus said he was proud of the students’ achievements.
“It is important for students to have the opportunity to take part in such programs and set themselves goals to challenge themselves and learn something new,” he said.
“Our college motto is striving in life and this is exactly what these students have done. These five students have put a tremendous amount of effort into designing this app to assist in developing positive coping strategies in young people.
“They developed Codie with primary school-aged children in mind. It can be used as a tool for early intervention in mental health management.
“As part of the project, this group of young women spoke with industry leaders, local groups and our own school’s wellbeing team.”
To learn about the app, visit: bit.ly/2lIYyqk
