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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

South Lakes High School Students Brainstorm Civic Education Apps at the White House

Four South Lakes High School seniors participated in the first ever codeathon, organized by the White House Council on Women and Girls, to brainstorm the creation of an app that promotes civic education and inspires girls to serve as leaders. The event, part of the Equal Futures App Challenge, took place at the White House on Monday. South Lakes High School is a Fairfax County public school.

The students—Tatevik Markaryan, Becky Oswalt, Nicole Rappaport, and Abby Studen—were part of a group of 30 girls from Washington, D.C., area middle and high schools who were invited to work with professional developers and coders to develop an app. The South Lakes students worked on an app to link girls to female role models.

Political experts from organizations focused on increasing female political leadership kicked off the event by describing the challenges women leaders face in running for office.

The app challenge is part of the Equal Futures Partnership launched by President Barack Obama in September 2011 at the United Nations General Assembly. More than a dozen countries have signed on to this international effort to politically and economically empower women.

The app challenge is accepting student entries until January 12, 2013.