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Whereas some adults can’t even figure out how to operate and apps on their phone or tablet, local middle school students are designing them. A group of seventh-graders at DCSD’s Cimarron Middle School, came out on top in a recent application design challenge.

This year’s 2015 Verizon Innovative App Challenge had several Colorado middle schools and high schools, focused on STEM learning, enter the competition with an original design of a useful mobile application. The acronym STEM, is used to refer to schools and programs that strongly push for curriculum that integrates the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Under the supervision of a faculty advisor, the 5-7 person team, the group of Parker students came up with an app they named ‘Destination Education.’ The group created it with the idea of helping students better retain learned math and science concepts. “This entrepreneurial group of students came together to collaborate on their app concept outside of their normal school day,” said Katie Manzanares, Cimarron Middle School
Technology Teacher.

The winning team will now go on with their high school counterpart to compete against regional designs from neighboring states. This next phase will involve a live STEM related webinar with the Verizon Foundation with 12 middle school and high school teams receiving $5,000 in cash grants.

The community wishes you good luck Cimarron Middle School!