From Urban Milwaukee:
North Division High school students Tatiana Loyd and Qiaira Mathews, who designed a mobile app to comfort children who suffer from serious diseases, currently hold second place in a national app-making contest. They are trying to rally enough support to win the Fan Favorite competition before voting closes on July 19.
Their app is one of six finalists in the NAF and Lenovo Scholars Network National Mobile Apps contest.
Mathews, a junior, got the idea for the app, “Emoji Encouragement,” from her aunt who works at a hospital and often needs to comfort patients. Loyd, a senior, said she liked the concept because she was frequently in and out of the hospital as a child.
“When she came to me with the idea I was in love with it,” Loyd said. “If I would have had this it would have been helpful because the nurses couldn’t be with me every minute of the day.”
The app also received good reviews on Google Play, where it is rated 4.8 stars.
Loyd and Matthews have been spreading the word through social media and word of mouth. They are looking into visiting Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin to have some of the patients try the app.
“The one thing I want is to work with the kids this app is made for,” Loyd said. “After that I don’t even care if we win fan favorite. I just want to see if the app can do what it’s actually supposed to do.”
For more, visit Urban Miwlaukee
