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Swift student challenge winners named by Apple for their Swift Playgrounds projects

Three of the Swift Student Challenge winners have been named by Apple, for demonstrating their ability to create problem-solving apps in Swift Playgrounds. We heard yesterday from some other winners who shared photos of their awards and swag.

Apple has now highlighted three of the winners. Aged 16, 17, and 19, all are first-time entrants. One of the apps helps gardeners identify invasive weeds, another teaches the basics of CPR, while the third helps those who are exploring their gender identity …

Apple today shared their stories.

Every year, in the lead-up to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, young people from around the globe use Swift Playgrounds to showcase their coding skills. This year, as part of the Swift Student Challenge, they include submissions from first-time participants Jones Mays II, Angelina Tsuboi, and Josh Tint […]

When Jones Mays II, 17, designed his winning Swift Playgrounds submission, an app called Ivy, he found inspiration in his own roots.

“My grandfather had a garden that he loved, and he grew so much food that he just allowed people from the community to come in and grab what they needed,” said Mays, who is about to start his senior year of high school in Houston, Texas. “Even though he couldn’t walk at the end of his life, he used to point and that’s where I’d put down the seeds for him. But we always had to try to get rid of the kudzu vine — it was an ongoing fight.” 

And so Mays decided to create an app that honored his grandfather, who passed away a few years ago, by helping other gardeners identify and get rid of invasive plants like kudzu […]

When it comes to tackling problems, 16-year-old Angelina Tsuboi, who lives in Redondo Beach, California, can’t pick just one. 

In addition to her winning Swift Playgrounds submission that teaches the basics of CPR, she also helped build a prototype that monitors air quality, created a website to help search and rescue organizations, and designed a school communication program that won the Congressional App Challenge in her district […]

Josh Tint loves words. The 19-year-old from Tucson, Arizona just finished his freshman year at Arizona State University and is focusing his studies on linguistics — specifically lavender linguistics, which is the study of the language used by the LGBTQ+ community. 

For his winning Swift Playgrounds, Tint designed an app that enables people who are questioning their gender identity to try different pronouns.

“An algorithm will insert different pronouns into pieces of sample text,” said Tint. “You can swipe through the sample text — left or right to indicate whether you like it or not — to get a feel for whether you think a certain gender pronoun matches your identity” […]

Apple is proud to support and uplift the next generation of developers, creators, and entrepreneurs through its annual WWDC student program. Over the past three decades, thousands of students have built successful careers in technology, founded venture-backed startups, and created organizations focused on democratizing technology and innovating to build a better future.

Sadly the Swift student challenge winners don’t get to visit Apple Park, but they do at least get recognition, and likely highlighting of their future apps.

Check out our roundup of what we can expect when WWDC 2022 kicks off on Monday.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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