A Cork teenager has followed up her 2021 Technovation award by creating a new app that has won her the junior regional award for Europe at Technovation, a global app creation competition for girls.
Saanvi Kaushik (14), a student at Christ the King Secondary School, beating a field of 5,500 girls from 61 countries to win a global award at Technovation 2021 for Stellar, an app that helps patients access occupational therapy services. She was also recognised by the panel of judges for a second app, Climattain, that aims to inform, encourage young people to take daily actions to positively impact their own carbon footprint.
Kaushik explained the idea behind Climattain: “I have not been able to visit my grandparents in India due to the huge levels of smog and pollution. Today, seasons don’t really exist in India and it’s extremely hot all year around. My grandparents also say that it does not rain as often as it used to. Every individual must take responsibility and act against climate change. I developed Climattain with the aim of providing such a platform.”
Kaushik was backed by charity Teen Turn, which works to tackle the low number of women from under-served areas and under-represented communities who are attaining thirdlevel qualifications in STEM.
“I am working on refining the machine learning models and the content of the app. The current version can be used by students within a school. In the future, I want the users within a class to be able to connect and also be able to join global events. I will fix all the bugs to get the app market-ready and then I will launch it on PlayStore and AppStore.”
Other winners included Flourish Olushola from Colaiste Nano Nagle whose app, Whistleblower, educates users on the meaning of gender-based violence, how to combat it and where to go if you need help. She came away with first prize in the Junior Division.
“I did not expect to win anything as it was my first time doing any sort of coding but I somehow managed to win first place in the junior division and I won a brand-new HP chromebook. I was over the moon. TeenTurn helped me so much through my Technovation journey from all their resources to connecting us to professional app developers.”
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