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SALT LAKE CITY — A group of students from Wasatch Junior High is one step closer to helping students across the country become better drivers.
Earlier this month, the seven students won best in state in the Verizon Wireless Innovative App Challenge, a competition which invites middle school and high school students to develop an original idea for a mobile application that meets a need in their community.
The students’ app idea, coined “Study Taxi,” would act as a way to help students study for their driver’s education examination while challenging them in a game, according to the students’ technology teacher, Tony Byrom.
While playing the game, which is designed to look like a taxi cab, students would learn what different road signs mean and how to navigate, accelerate, brake and turn. The app users would play as the taxi driver, then they would pick up various passengers, who would give them directions to the location they needed to go to.
“The passengers can be asking us questions, which will be questions teens will see on the driver’s license test,” Byrom said. “It’s a study help but at the same time it’s a game.”
It's truly their project, their idea and their work. I'm just proud of them.
–Tony Byrom, teacher
Wasatch Junior High beat out nearly 1,000 other schools nationwide in the competition. The school will soon receive $5,000 that will benefit the school's Technology Student Association.
“I was impressed with their teamwork, ability and organization,” Byrom said. “I do like to challenge them in thinking of ideas. I try to challenge them.”
Feb. 3, the students will hear if “Study Taxi” will win best in region. The students are competing against others from California and Arizona in the Western United States region.
If they succeed, they will move on to compete in the best in nation round, where they could win tablets, software to develop their app and $15,000 that would go toward the Technology Student Association at their school.
During an interview the students participated in Thursday, the judges expressed concern that each state has slightly different driving rules and so they would have to keep that in mind.
The app should cover about 80 percent of what is including on the driver’s test, and they will study each state’s driving rules so they can focus on the similarities of each state, Byrom said.
“My students did pretty good, I’m hopeful,” Byrom said. “It’s truly their project, their idea and their work. I’m just proud of them.”
