A group of Springbrook High School students--four girls from the Springbrook Women in Technology group (SWIT) along with three boys from AP Computer Science--has won an international World Series of Innovation Award. 

The team--including girls Stephanie Tam, Catherine Smith, Ariela Vega, and Julia Davenport and boys Avery Lee, Romeo Fotso, and Kevin Ngo--under the tutelage of computer science teacher Pat Yongpradit--are among six groups winning the 2011 competition.

Sponsored by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), the contest challenges groups of five or more students to create "a new, unique or innovative product or service" and show how their product or service will impact people's daily lives.

The Springbrook team won for its “iWheelDrive” mobile app, which gives teens a sense of what it's like to drive a car by "practice" driving, while teaching about driving safety and laws. It was created in an effort to help prevent car accidents, the leading cause of death for teens, according to application’s description. The design won in the "Mobile Game" and "Mobile App" categories, sponsored by Microsoft. Students are asked "to create mobile phone apps and games that raise awareness and provide solutions for common student and school issues."

For winning, the students' classroom will receive a $2,500 grant and an Xbox Kinect and each student on the app team will receive a prize package from Microsoft, according to a press release. NFTE will also work to arrange for a representative from the U.S. Department of Education to visit the winners to discuss their ideas for College and Career Readiness.

Also, you may also be able to soon buy the app--Microsoft and NFTE will work to find a development partner to assist the winning teams in bringing their ideas to market.

The World of Innovation competition asks groups of five or more students to create "a new, unique or innovative product or service," and show how their product or service will impact people's daily lives as well as how they will market the creations.  Winners were chosen by the public by online voting, with more over 40,000 online votes cast by the Nov. 18 deadline.

For more information on the competition, visit www.nfte.com/innovation.

Related Topics: Springbrook High