Thirty-seven high schools worldwide entered the 2015 HYPE Foundation competition, “making a difference with youth in the fields of Empowerment, Leadership, Personal Development, Social Action and Impact-Entrepreneurship.” Each team developed a new concept for a computer app and created a Powerpoint presentation to introduce their concept to a panel of judges. Only 7 of the 37 teams were chosen to compete at EXPO Milano 2015 in late October, and Mar Elias was in that elite group. The Mar Elias team of Mahmoud Hogerat and Adi Makhol, with their teacher Mr. Nemer Elias traveled to Italy in October to give their presentation before the HYPE judges at Expo Milano, and they won 2nd place over-all. Congratulations to the traveling team, and to the 2 other members of their app-development team, Maria Aboud and Rany Sosan, who didn’t get to make the Italy trip but whose work on the team helped ensure success!
This is the second major computer science contest won by Mar Elias students in 2015. In June, a different team of four Mar Elias students won Israel’s “Hackathon” with an app they developed to provide information on emergency first aid and links to the nearest healthcare resources.
MEEI’s HYPE Foundation entry was an App they called “Handy N Hand,” designed to match up elderly people and youth volunteers through a vetted, secure process. The young people would provide services like rides to appointments, help with chores, or even simple companionship. Elderly citizens in need would get reliable help, while the youth would receive volunteer credit (a requirement for Israeli high school matriculation). The App isn’t yet reality, but the young entrepreneurs who developed it hope for funding soon, to bring the idea to life. Stay tuned!