Four Hermiston High School students got a message recently from U.S. Congressman Cliff Bentz’ office
Rami Hozi, Cordell Patrick, Blake Wickers, and Zeferino Araiza, HHS students studying computer science, were notified by the congressman’s office that they have won the 2021 Congressional App Challenge for Oregon’s Second Congressional District.
Hozi, Patrick, Wickers, and Araiza created the Emergency app, which allows anyone, at any time, to access emergency services such as phone numbers, location, contacts, and a map. The premise stemmed from an idea to give people an easy and convenient way to access some of the most popular safety and emergency services all in one app. You can dial any number from the provided list of emergency numbers; get an exact location with a button click, showing data such as latitude, longitude, and address no matter where a person might be; connect with emergency contacts; and access a map that includes nearby emergency locations.
“The emergency app has been in the works for a long time,” said HHS computer science teacher Robert Theriault. “The students thought of the app last year and have been planning the best way to implement the app. It was decided early on that they wanted it on both Android and iOS so a majority of mobile users could utilize the app. However, this meant that they needed to learn two interfaces to get both systems working. It was one of the largest endeavors I have seen in the last six years at Hermiston High School.”
The students are invited to attend the House of Code next spring.
The Congressional App Challenge mission is to inspire, include, and innovate efforts around STEM, coding, and computer science education. It is the most prestigious prize for a computer science student.
