by Carol Roussel
Mother of Isabella, Noah & Joseph
“BUT what if we wanted pizza bagels?”
The question was to a team of 7th Graders who had just designed an app that allowed pupils to voice a choice at school for example between pizzas or bagels, or tennis versus basketball. In less than three hours, the team had to identify a problem or opportunity, and then design an app to fix the problem. Team Disney was now defending its design following a pitch to parents and to pupils as young as nine.
The quest to “make ISB even more awesome” was on at the school’s first App-a-Thon — a bootcamp in design thinking inspired by the d.school at Stanford, the university which spawned the rock stars of Silicon Valley, including Google, Instagram and Snapchat. With the race to become the next Mark Zuckerberg at full tilt, each of the eight teams had to perfect a pitch starting with “it’s not cool that…” followed by the question “what if we built an app that…?”
ISB students do not have far to look for inspiration. ISB itself emerged from an idea of entrepreneur Rebecca Skinner. It’s no surprise that the spirit of creativity runs through its veins. From the mini Kandinskys that line the halls, to the Middle School Monologues, to 2nd Graders’ video calls with NASA, ISB students are taught literally and metaphorically to reach for the stars. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the eight lively App-a-Thon teams was how to distill the hundreds of ideas on post-it notes into just one concept per team.
“ISB immediately reminded me of so much of what I loved about school,” said Nicholas Thorne, an entrepreneur at NY incubator Prehype, who led the event along with ISB parent of three and Chief Innovation Officer for Dow Jones, Edward Roussel. Judges and mentors also included Himesh Patel, creative director of Dow Jones & The Wall Street Journal, and Rahul Chopra, ISB parent and CEO of Storyful, as well as ISB’s Director of Operations and Advancement, Natalie Judelson.
“I was equally impressed with how well the students worked together,” continued Nicholas. “The team dynamics struck me as very healthy. The students were willing to share and willing to listen. That stood out to me, especially in the context of the adult groups that we work with.”
In the end, Uber was the inspiration for two teams, and homework was the problem to fix for three. Two proposals called for students to be able to have a say in the lunch menu or school activities, while one of the winners resolved the problem of not having time for the library. It was all, ”more fun than I expected,” said Louis Mars from the all-boy Team Disney. “I think in our team, we collaborated more because we’re already friends.”
Team Just Do It raised the trophy for ISB’s Middle School for the “very cool social and peer to peer components” of its “Book a Book” app – a library book delivery service and review forum that would resolve the problem of Middle Schoolers’ not having enough time in their schedule to get to the school library. The team included Annabelle J., Alma-Lilas A., Leila M., Owen L. and Lucas M.
Team TechnoAwesome was the Lower School winner, with a design for an app called “Where’s the Bus?” that signals where the school bus is and estimates how long it will be before it arrives. The team earned praise from the judges for their app’s “simplicity, creativity, and for how it used the special components of the smart phone”. The team members were Melchior A., Ariane B., Ariane C., Theo H., and Joaquin M.
The most popular app with the audience was Team Les Schtroumpfs’ plan for teachers to put a time estimate on homework that would block further assignments once the student is “maxed out”. The team of five 8th Graders will be among ISB’s second graduating class in June, and said they were keen to leave a legacy about homework workloads and “hopefully make a change,” as team member Jasper W. described it.
As for Team Disney, the boys were left to answer the challenge about what to do if an order for a pizza bagel came in on its voting app called “ISB Info”. But perhaps the now-popular pretzel croissant in NYC may have also started as an answer to a question.
The App Ideas
WINNER: Where is the Bus? by Team TechnoAwesome
An app that would help bus route families notify each other when the bus has arrived at their stop.
Designed by Ariane B., Ariane C., Melchior A., Theo H., & Joaquin M.
ISB Alerts by Team Monkey Kids
A morning alert which could inform a student of an upcoming event, what is on the Butter Beans menu and which would incorporate student requests.
Designed by Charlotte A., Karla A., Rio S., Elsie M., & Noah L.
ISB Medical App by Team Dragons
For medical emergencies, this would deliver a nurse to the school door.
Designed by Luc M., Sundiata G., Margaux A., Matthew C., & Lothaire M.
ISB Trivia Games by Team Pro Gamers
An app described as the “gamification of homework,” by playing games, keeping track of scores and a pupil’s ranking within a class league.
Designed by Johnny H., Simran S., Samia B. & Leon T.
WINNER: Book a Book by Team Just Do It
An app that would allow students to check out books from ISB’s library and have them delivered to their classroom. The students could also use the app to write book reviews and recommend books to their peers.
Designed by Annabelle J., Alma-Lilas A., Leila M., Owen L. & Lucas M.
ISB Info by Team Disney
An app that allows pupils to vote on activities or menus.
Designed by Noah R., Louis M., Wheeler Z. & Marcello F.
ISB Whiteboard by Team Les Schtroupmfs
An app that requires teachers to estimate how long assignments take up to a predetermined level where students would be “maxed out” at when no more work could be added.
Designed by Isabella R., Perrine L., Morganne M., Luke V. & Jasper W.
Let’s Talk School by Team Joga Tech
An app to allow students to communicate more easily with teachers about assignments and which could be rolled out to other participating schools.
Designed by Oliver J., Georgia F., Alida N. & Jeremy B.
