LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Students at Forest Heights STEM Academy have been named as Arkansas' Best in State winner for the fifth annual Verizon Innovative Learning app challenge. The team won with its mobile app concept SmartRnger.
As one of two winners from the state, the students will receive a $5,000 award for their school and tables for each student in the team. The Forest Heights team is competing for one of eight Best in Nation Awards which would win $15,000 for their school and a chance to work with MIT Media Lab experts to bring the app to its final form.
Their app, Smartrnger, adjusts the ringer volume on your cell phone based on the background noise of where you may be at the time.
"Because it seems like we are facing this problem in everyday life without knowing it," said sixth grader Anu Iyer. "I just figured out that we could come up with the solution is just a basic app."
The public are able to vote until February 14. You can vote for the Smartrnger app by texting 22333 with the phrase "SMARTRNGER." So far, the team has 574 votes.