Students’ life-saving mobile app competes for five-figure check
A team of freshmen students from the Academy for the Arts Science and Technology in Myrtle Beach is competing for a $15,000 grant for their life-saving mobile app concept.
The team won a $5,000 grant and was named one of two Best in State winners from South Carolina as part of the Verizon Innovative Learning App Challenge for its CPR Buddy mobile app.
The app gives users instructions on how to perform CPR, and the team is now competing for a national award for their proposal.
The app is important because there’s not many people who would know what to do in an emergency situation where CPR was needed.
Gracen Kay
“We couldn’t find any health care apps that were useful, especially for CPR,” said team member Gracen Kay. “The app is important because there’s not many people who would know what to do in an emergency situation where CPR was needed.”
According the the American Heart Association, immediate CPR after a cardiac arrest can double or triple a person’s chance of survival, but only 32 percent of victims receive CPR from bystanders.
You can click on each individual step and it’ll speak it out for you.
Yianni Paraschos
The Verizon competition judges the apps based off teams’ app concepts and written proposals, but each AAST student has already built a demo version of the app.
“The first part of the app has CPR instructions, which you have the ability to search and read through each one of the steps,” said team leader Yianni Paraschos. “You can click on each individual step and it’ll speak it out for you.”
The app also features a pacer so users can perform CPR at the correct rate of beats-per-minute.
I ... feel like they shouldn’t have to pay for it. That’s not how we should profit from it because you can save a life and a life should be free for everyone.
Nicklause McIlrath
The team is eligible to win one of eight Best in Nation Award spots, chosen by a panel of education and industry experts. Winners earn $15,000 and will work with Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab experts to develop the app.
There is also a Fan Favorite winner decided by popular vote that comes with the same benefits as winning a Best in Nation spot.
To vote for the AAST team, go to www.verizon.com/appchallenge/vote and text the team’s entry code to 22333. Voting lasts from Monday through Feb. 14.
If the team wins the Fan Favorite or a Best in Nation award, the completed app will be available from the Google Play store – preferably for free, the team says.
“I … feel like they shouldn’t have to pay for it,” said team member Nicklause McIlrath. “That’s not how we should profit from it because you can save a life and a life should be free for everyone.”
Christian Boschult, 843-626-0218, @TSN_Christian
This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Students’ life-saving mobile app competes for five-figure check."