AppJam+ Fall 2014 Showcase Finale Results

AppJam+ wraps up another year of inspiring young computer scientists & training them in making mobile apps

The brainstorming. The mentoring. The programming. The snack breaks. Another year of AppJam+, the program where college undergraduates help excite and inform middle school students about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields while guiding them in creating educational mobile apps for elementary-school students, has come to an end at the Final Showcase Event on the evening of November 20th at the Business Expo Center.
AppJam+ in 2014 brought together the OC STEM Initiative, Time Warner Cable, UC Irvine Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, and Saddleback Community College to present the third annual app-development final showcase event.
Bringing together nearly 100 middle school students from Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Harbor Day School in Corona del Mar, Girls Inc. in Santa Ana, Boys and Girls Club in Garden Grove & Boys and Girls Club of Capistrano Valley, the showcase featured 21 team presentations with the following teams coming out on top in the friendly competition.

1st Place Winners of Chrome Books: Team Red Vines from Harbor Day School
AppName: Star Adventures: Science Strikes Back
Mentor: Ceci Garcia, UC Irvine (Lead Mentor)
Team Members: Eamon Niknafs, Luke Nataupsky, John King App
Description: An education game featuring you, a space adventurer, exploring the distant planet of Zaron. However some problems occur and along the way you need to replenish your resources using chemistry to build different molecules.

2nd Place Winners of Beats by Dre headphones: The Bunchies from Tiger Woods Learning Center
AppName: Rocket Builder
Mentor: Andrew Li, UC Irvine
Team Members: Joshua Barragan, Jose Miguel (JM) Cabarles, Sanghyok Tommy Lee, Raul Sarinana, Eduardo Vaca.
App Description: What do you know about our Solar System? Rocket Builder will advance your knowledge on astronomy and test your skills in dodging dangerous asteroids! Journey on to upgrade your rocket ship through familiarizing principles in aerodynamic engineering. Are you the ultimate rocket builder?

3rd Place Winners of Sphero Devices: RockAppster from Girls Inc. of Orange County
AppName: Science Land
Mentor: Vonnie Wu, UC Irvine
Team Members: Desiree Aguilera, Kimberly Luna, Jocelyn Martinez App
Description: Science Land is an educational 2D adventure game that allows players to explore the world of science by tackling science problems and playing science games. The story begins with a 5th grader named Alice who discovers Science Land the night before her science exam. Alice explores Science Land and develops a deeper understanding of scientific concepts such as astronomy, chemistry and life science. Her goal is to get to the end of science land and be ready before she takes her exam. The game is centered around a game board where Alice walks around and answers timed scientific questions. In order to get to the end of Science Land, the player must successfully answer all of the questions and must finish every mini-game.

4th Place Winners of Tokidoki Phones: The CodeAppMoment from Girls Inc. of Orange County
AppName: Math Cars
Mentor: Marwan Nazanda, UC Irvine
Team Members: Destiny Plata, Jacqueline Chavez, Alessandra Ramirez
App Description: The app Math Cars made by The CodeApp Moment team is simple to understand yet makes you want to play it again and again. In the app, all you need to do is maneuver left or right to avoid cars and drive into the correct answer of the equation displayed at the top of the screen. There are three lanes to maneuver in between and there will be a combination of cars and numbers coming down at you. Picking the correct answers will earn points while wrong answers will get you negative points. And if you hit another car on the road it is game over.

5th Place Winners of Coldstone Giftcards: Vitamin D-Ficiency from Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley
AppName: Creature Creator
Mentor: Cristina “Sam” Amin, Saddleback Community College
Team Members: Molly Brucker, Alex Jauregai, Alejandra Paz, Max Papageorges, Anthony Perez
App Description: Creature Creator is an app for learning about the skeletal anatomy of five different animals: humans, eagles, cougars, bears and wolves. You select an animal, and are then taken to a clean slate with all its bones on it, which can be dragged around the screen in attempts to figure out how the skeleton pieces together. Making a fast "swipe" gesture over a particular bone causes a pop-up with information on that bone.

Closing Remarks

Each year the level of technical sophistication and depth of design that the students achieve in their apps is astounding! The movies, 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. It boggles our minds that they do all of this in the span of 8 to 10 weeks!

Thank you all 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.

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