Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

McCaskey students picked to develop apps

Thirty-six students at McCaskey and McCaskey East high schools have been chosen to develop digital apps while learning skills to help them enter the workforce or pursue higher education.

The students are the first from Pennsylvania to participate in the Educational Empowerment Program, sponsored by Verizon Wireless in partnership with Samsung.

Teachers recommended 18 students from each campus for participation. They'll be assigned to 12 teams to work on developing apps to run on Android devices.

The students, who will each receive a Samsung tablet, will attend biweekly workshops in which they'll learn about app design and marketing and get tips on such topics as creating a resume, dressing for an interview, landing a job and using social media to find and keep a job.

Verizon executives will conduct the workshops at both schools.

At the end of the project in April, teams will present their app concepts and marketing plans to a panel of judges from Verizon. The panel will select three finalists, and a public online vote will determine first- and second-place winners.

Members of the winning team will receive $2,000 scholarships, Samsung tablets and summer internships with Verizon Wireless. Second-place team members will receive new tablets.

The winners will be named at the McCaskey High School awards program May 1.

According to a news release, Verizon chose McCaskey to participate in the program because of its student diversity.

Students at 15 other schools in the Northeast have participated since the program began in 2011.