For the second consecutive year, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) is offering a two-day Mobile App Academy for high school students in an effort to promote and support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in American education.
The Mobile App Academies will take place this summer in six different cities throughout the country. Samsung worked with the education publishing company Scholastic to develop the Academy curriculum and additional online resources for teachers who want to use mobile app technology in their STEM education classrooms.
Academy students will have a unique opportunity to work with experts in the industry and use the latest in mobile app technology. Each student will receive a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to use during the workshop that they can keep after they finish the program.
Students will work with experts to create their own mobile application concept during the program. According to a press release, Samsung will reward $20,000 in scholarships to the student who comes up with the best concept. Second through fifth place will receive a Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
A total of 180 students will participate in the program this summer, and spots will be chosen by a random lottery out of a pool of eligible students who have maintained a 3.0 GPA and have taken or enrolled in at least two AP classes in the STEM subjects.
STEM-related jobs are some of the fastest growing jobs in the country. The U.S. Department of Commerce report “STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future” indicates that STEM-related occupations are projected to grow by 17 percent from 2008 through 2018, compared to just 9.8 percent growth for occupations not related to STEM. The Commerce Department concluded that “STEM jobs are the jobs of the future.”
Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America, says in the press release that the Mobile App Academy is designed to inspire “the next generation of mobile application developers” by empowering top high school students who have shown an interest in the STEM courses to participate in the creation of new apps.
Samsung’s first Mobile App Academy took place last year with 120 high school participants and awarded over $35,000 in educational scholarships. Last year’s grand prize winner of $20,000 was a 10th-grader named Joseph Romano who designed a mobile app called Better4All to help connect volunteers with nearby opportunities.
In August, Samsung will also offer a one-day workshop for teachers to help them learn how to bring mobile apps into STEM classrooms, according to a Scholastic press release. The workshop, which will take place in the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, is designed to help educators “increase mobile app know-how and become more technically savvy.”
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