Baxter students win app challenge
John Zarate of South Portland and Wil Losereewanich, who are both students at Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland, have won this year’s Congressional App Challenge for Maine’s 1st Congressional District.
The team’s winning submission—an organization app called Flex—can be used to help track the progress of different tasks.
“I’m very impressed with Wil and John’s app—from its concept to the final product,” said U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, who announced the award. “Writing an app like this takes a lot of technical skill, but it’s also clear that they put a lot of thought into developing a tool that people would want to use.”
Zarate and Losereewanich, who is an exchange student from Bangkok, Thailand, said the idea for the app originated with Baxter Academy’s Flex Fridays, when students are given a day every week to work on a year-long project of their choosing. Many project teams at the school use “scrum boards” to track the status of collective tasks — To Do, In Process, and Done — and who is responsible for each.
Flex was designed to be a digital version of scrum boards posted on the walls at school, Zarate and Losereewanich said. Users can create and assign tasks while moving them from To Do to In Process to Done. The pair had early help in developing the concept from their classmates Connor Bell and Joseph Corwin, and support from their programming teacher Halsted Larsson.
A video of Losereewanich explaining the app on Youtube at bit.ly/1XtC2cr.
The Maine Technology Institute convened a panel of judges for the competition. The judges praised the app’s simplicity and intuitive user experience, as well its effectiveness in addressing a key need in project management.
Pingree will formally recognize the students at her office and the app will be on display on a monitor at the Capitol. The submission is listed with the other winners at bit.ly/1LYHJJi.
Dean’s lists
Bates College
Megan Lubetkin, majoring in geology.
Seth Dobieski, majoring in history.
William Cleaves, majoring in English.
Emerson College
Amanda Doughty, of Scarborough
Alexandria Dutton, of South Portland
Andrea Kostovick, of Scarborough
Maine Maritime Academy
Cape Elizabeth: Curtis Guimond, Derek Roberts, Charles Salerno and Elin Sonesson
Scarborough: Catherine Bailey, Joseph Corbeau, Michael Dedian, Matthew Fosler, William Guerette, Jason Hawko, Kyle Lemay, Caroline Martine, Peter Moore, Harry Motter and Benjamin Stone
South Portland: Matthew Beecher, Joseph DiBiase, Andrew Gaynor, Daniel Peabody-Harrington, Jack Scofield and Shawn Shannon
Roger Williams
Cape Elizabeth: Tyler Mercer
Scarborough: Zach Albahary, Justin Reynolds, Haley Carignan, Sydney Martin, Andrew Simons, Luke Erwin and Rachel Harbottle
South Portland: Kristina Salafia
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Tucker Carter, of South Portland, who is majoring in plastics engineering.
St. Lawrence University
Meghan M. Doiron, of Scarborough, majoring in performance and communications arts and psychology.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lucas Dvorozniak, of Cape Elizabeth
Anders Jepson, of Scarborough
Kyle Redegeld, of Scarborough
Rochester Institute of Technology
Scarborough: Sarah Kearns, of Scarborough, who is studying in the biochemistry program.
Sorenda Muth, of Scarborough, who is studying in the biomedical sciences program.
Eric Johnson, of Scarborough, who is studying in the chemical engineering program.
Michael Guesev, of Scarborough, who is studying in the economics program.
Alden Porter, of South Portland, who is studying in the economics program.
Mark Rioux, of South Portland, who is studying in the political science program.
Alexander Kyte, of Scarborough, who is studying in the computer science program.
Maria Quartararo, of Scarborough, who is studying in the industrial engineering program.
Kaler open house
An informational meeting and registration for 4-year-old children living in the James O. Kaler school neighborhood will be held 6-7 p.m. Tuesday, March 29, at the school, 65 South Kelsey St., South Portland.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.