The North Carolina Business Committee for Education’s Ready, Set, App! challenge is a mobile app development competition for high school students sponsored by Lenovo™. Student groups are asked to develop a mobile app using a mobile app development platform (e.g., MIT App Inventor) to solve a problem in their school or community. Ready, Set, App! focuses on three primary pillars:
- Mobile App Development
- Professional and Personal Development
- Interpersonal and Soft Skills Development
What Is Ready, Set, App?
Join Ready, Set, App!
Ready, Set, App! is a mobile app building competition for NC high schoolers. Over the course of a few months, students will take a unique idea and turn it into a full-functioning original app. No previous coding experience is necessary, as our incredible team of interns will be there to help you along the way.
To join, students will need to create a team, three to five students per team, and find an advisor. The advisor can be a teacher, school staff member, or any adult community leader (e.g., Girl Scout/Cub Scout leader, Boys and Girls Club leader, Sports Coach, etc.). Advisors may register with multiple teams. However, students can only join ONE team. Team formation should seek to display differing perspectives by utilizing diversity and inclusivity (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, neurodiversity, age, culture, language, subject area of expertise).
Registration is open now and closes at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, January 27, 2025. Please note - registration only indicates interest in the competition and allows us to set you up with resources such as project workbooks and assigning your team one of our student interns. Final projects are not due until later, in March.
For more questions, please contact NCBCE Program Manager, Ciera Tucker, at ciera.tucker@nc.gov.
Meet our Interns!
Ready, Set, App! believes in meaningful work-based learning opportunities for students and that is why we host the Ready, Set, App! internship. This is a paid internship opportunity for high school students interested in sharing their passion for STEM. After a competitive application process, our 2024-2025 team of interns were chosen. These interns are from across the state and have a host of skills, from coding to graphic design to video editing and more. They are assigned as mentors to the teams in this competition to provide insight and guidance to them as they develop their apps, making the competition more equitable by ensuring every team has support. They will meet with teams on a regular basis to track progress and answer questions, helping them overcome any obstacles on their pathway to success. They're a vital resource to this competition and we’re happy to have this team of hardworking, dedicated individuals.
What To Expect
RSA is designed in three phases:
- Phase 1: Registration
- Phase 2: Develop + Demo + Pitch Group Reflection
- Phase 3: Finalist Round
Phase 1: Registration
Registration requires the contact information for both the advisor and the student participants. An optional spot to write a short description of what app you plan to build and what need it is fulfilling in your school or community is available. This information gives your intern an idea of what your goals are, but if you don't have an idea yet, don't worry! Our interns can give you tips on brainstorming and design planning!
Registration is open and the deadline to register your team is Monday, January 27th, 2025 at 11:59 PM.
Phase 2: Develop + Demo + Pitch Group Reflection
Your team will develop a mobile app using a mobile app development platform (e.g., MIT App Inventor) to solve a problem in your school or community.
What to Submit:
- App Pitch + Demo (Video)
- Group Reflection (Video)
- Completed Project Workbook Activities
- Upload of your APK file
- Completed information in all required fields of the submission form on Devpost
Teams will submit a two-part video that includes the app pitch with demo, and a group reflection. The video should be no longer than 5 minutes.
To view last year’s submissions, visit readysetapp.devpost.com.
All teams in phase 2 will be assigned a Ready, Set, App! Student Intern. RSA interns act as mentors to the student groups, tracking their progress and offering assistance throughout the app development process. These interns are NC high school students with experience in coding, design, app-building, and some have been in this competition before as participants. So, they're able to provide a great amount of insight and value and should be utilized.
Student groups are required to coordinate times with their assigned intern to conduct virtual check-ins. These bi-weekly check-ins last about 15 - 30 minutes. Multiple missed check-ins can be cause for dismissal from the competition. Teams will also be given a project workbook. The project workbook details the requirements of the competition, provides deadlines, and contains activities meant to aid in the app development process. The workbook will be utilized during check-ins with their designated intern.
Phase 3: Finalist Round
After the Phase 2 submission deadline, there will be a voting period to determine the finalists who will present live at the Final Pitch Competition on Friday, April 25th, 2025 at Lenovo headquarters in Morrisville, NC.
The finalists will be required to present their mobile app in front of a live audience and a panel of judges who will select the top 3 winners that get to take home awesome prizes courtesy of Lenovo™. More details to come.
News
"High School Teams from Across North Carolina Excel in Ready, Set, App! Competition"
– governor.nc.gov • 6/3/2024
"NC high school students compete in app building contest at Lenovo headquarters"
– cbs17.com • 4/26/2024
Thank you to our sponsor:
This competition is also in partnership with:
