High School
Impact App Challenge
Empowering High school students to create the next amazing APP solving big environmental or social challenges.
The Impact APP Challenge empowers High School students to come up with and launch the next great social or environmental APP and gain critical skills they will need to be the future changemakers.
We want to encourage, inspire and empower teens to become the innovative leaders we need to address our biggest environmental and social challenges.
Program Overview
Students will learn:
- How to launch products, test early theories and how to iterate a product
- Anyone can solve big challenges. Steve Jobs and Sheryl Sandberg are just normal humans with big ideas, self confidence, persistence and an ability to execute on their vision.
- Ideas are a dime a dozen and it requires not just a good idea but the willingness to try, fail, be persistent, and execute on your vision.
- Students must be the change they want to see in the world because if they don’t, it is likely nobody else will.
Students will also practice and develop key skills like:
- Defining clear goals
- Developing and executing a plan
- Prioritization
- Teamwork / defining clear roles within a team
- Project management
- Time management
- Budgeting
- Collecting, analyzing, and integrating user feedback
- Writing proposals
- Presentation and communication
- Developing a growth mindset
The APP Challenge Prize:
- Students APP Live
Students become an innovation leader with their name and their APP live on the Apple App store and owned 100% by the students. - $15,000 in product development
The Impactree Foundation will cover all product development and engineering costs. - Four-month internship
Students work with our team of tech leaders and have a great internship to put on their resume. - Zero Programming Required
Students just need to have a great idea and work with our team to make it a reality.
The APP Development Process:
Impactree Foundation will take students through a streamlined product development process to help make their App idea a reality. The following phases will be completed by the students in collaboration with the Impactree Foundation team and Faculty advisor.
Phase 1: Solution & Market Detail
The winning students will begin their Internship and APP development process by adding more definition to their problem and solution, gather user feedback, define the market for their App and work on wireframing the App to send to engineers.
Phase 2: Product & Launch Planning
The team will submit the product plan to the App development engineering team for review and development. The team will review product development progress, test, and prepare for product launch. The team will also work on the marketing and outreach plan, App website and App store submission plan, and prepare for launch.
Phase 3: Beta Testing
The students will test a Beta version of the App and gather user feedback for final product bug fixes / improvements, which will be shared with the engineering team for final product development prior to launch.
Phase 4: Product Launch
The APP will be submitted to Apple’s App Store for review and approval. Students will also launch their webpage for the App, begin to promote it, and gather user feedback.
School Requirements:
The school must be willing to designate one faculty advisor who will help:
- Be the single point of contact
- Get agreement to participate and active sponsorship from the principal, or equivalent
- Provide and/or coordinate support and coaching for winning students
- Announce the program to the school
- Support Impactree Foundation’s selection process of the winning App
- Support the winning students through the 4-month internship and App development process as needed
- Meet with the winning students or students and the Impactree Foundation team once a month during the internship to review progress and planning
Student Requirements:
In order for winning students and their App to be selected, the following criteria must be met.
1. The App must pursue the greater good: it must nurture inclusivity, justice, sustainability and/or compassion.
2. The idea must address an environmental or social problem/challenge a large portion of students at your school or people in your community, teams, clubs or other groups you are associated with experience on a regular basis.
Problems you choose to address may include:
-Environment or climate
-Social justice
-Racial justice
-Gender equity
-LGBTQ+ rights
-Mental Health
-Or any other issue you feel negatively impacts society or the planet.
4. The winning idea must have 2-4 students involved. The students must all be high school students and at least one must be from the participating school.
5. The winning students commit to a 4-month remote internship with Impactree Foundation and expect to spend about 2-3 hours per week working on the project, progressing from initial ideation through to launch and user feedback.
Launch at Your School
Would you like to launch the Impact APP Challenge at your school? Complete the form below and we will be in touch.
Contact
Impactree Foundation
PO Box 454 Las Gallinas Ave, Suite 269
San Rafael CA 94903