The LCS App Gallery – Coming Soon!

Over the last year, LCS students have been working on developing apps for their peers and the broader LCS community. We are thrilled to announce that LCS has officially been approved to operate an Apple Developer account, which will allow our students to launch their own apps in an App Store accessible only to the LCS community. 

In recent months, we highlighted the Jack Chapter Mental Health app – a resource that was designed for both on- and off-campus students to provide mental health support and serve as a directory for other forms of support available in the LCS community. 

We also highlighted the LCS Eats app – this idea was developed by Luke Burri ’22 and is being carried out by his peer, Scott Doggett ’21. LCS Eats is the students’ version of UberEats. The boys currently operating LCS Eats do so using spreadsheets and order forms. The app will create a better experience for both the students ordering food and those processing the orders. 

These apps were conceptualized, designed, and will soon be implemented by our students with the help of Mr. Gordon (Computer Science Teacher). 

Mr. Gordon has been working with Mr. Amit Chopra (Director of Information Systems) to establish an institutional LCS Apple Developer account. This account allows our students to publish their apps and make them accessible to the LCS community through an LCS-only version of the App Store. After navigating through the registration process, we’re excited to share that our students will be able to publish their apps and make their projects come to life. 

We spoke to Mr. Gordon about the potential for LCS Apps and his hope is that students will, “see that they have enough knowledge [right now] to positively impact their community and see that their app is actually being used.” He also hopes that this form of experiential learning will, “motivate students to pursue further studies in computer science, software engineering, and other STEM subjects.”

Many of the apps created by our students are also uniquely designed for the LCS community. For example, LCS Eats is intended only for those students at LCS. Some students, however, created interest-centered apps (as opposed to school-centered) and those students will be encouraged to submit their apps to Apple for distribution on the public App Store. For example, Evan Armstrong ’23 has developed an app that will help Nordic skiers determine how to prepare their equipment for a session on the slopes.

Once a student has fully conceptualized and designed their app, they must submit it to be reviewed and approved by Apple before it can be featured in the LCS App Gallery. 

With this exciting news, we’d also like to share some of the other apps our students have been working on, which will be available in the LCS App Gallery when it launches. 

Small Business Guide – Designed by Branton Hung ’21, this app was created with new LCS students in mind. The app features a map that identifies and describes key businesses in the community that students can patronize to obtain commonly needed items or services. 

School Life Guide – Sihan Chen ’22 created a searchable and mobile-friendly version of the School Life Guide, with a bookmarking capability that allows students to mark important pages for quick reference. 

Art Exhibitions – James Wu ’21 (recipient of the Peter Dalglish Art Award) designed an app to highlight the work created by LCS artists and famous works created by artists worldwide. The app will serve as a mobile art exhibition to provide people with opportunities to enjoy artwork while in-person activities are limited. 

Which Wax Should I Use – Created by Evan Armstrong ’23, this app will help Nordic skiers determine how to prepare their gear based on experience level, available equipment, and current weather conditions. 

Bouldering Guide – Moritz Asche ’22 designed a beginner’s guide to bouldering at LCS, complete with video tutorials for routes on our climbing wall. Students can track their progress on different routes and take notes about how they felt during their climbing session. Mr. Wilson is particularly keen to see this app become available quickly as he is currently working with a new group of climbers.

“I was first planning on making an app that gives you the number of days until a certain event like your birthday or Christmas [– a countdown app], but in coding, time is a very difficult thing. So I thought about what else I could do. I love climbing… So my app is specifically designed for the climbing program at LCS. It lists all the boulders that are on the bouldering wall in the climbing gym.”

Moritz explained one of the features of his app: “You can check the [boulders] you have climbed, kind of like a reminder app. For each of the routes, there is a short video of me and some other people showing how to climb this specific route. It also has a picture of the route.”

Counselling Coordination – Yeseo Kim ’22 created a dedicated booking app for Ms. Cosgrove’s counselling services that shows available appointment slots. The app will securely transmit student requests for appointments to an “admin” side app that Ms. Cosgrove will use to accept and respond to requests. A security-restricted Google Sheet is used as the intermediary data store to allow bookings to be made.

Safe Eating at LCS – Backed by a Google Sheet, Luck Wang’s ’23 app tells students, based upon what house they are in, where they are permitted to eat and when. Since approved eating locations vary day by day with our new Safety First Covid-19 dining protocols, Heads of Houses report that, “Where can I eat?” is the question they receive most frequently from their students. This app will ensure that students know where to be while reducing the inquiries received by Heads of Houses.

Town Leave – The “Town Leave” app was designed by Vincent Cloutier ’22 and it allows students to request evening and weekend leave from their Heads of House (HoH) without requiring them to find their HoH in person. The app includes a timer to help students avoid missing their deadline for returning to campus and GPS-based check-ins so that HoH can see that students are back on campus in a timely manner.

 

When considering the longer term effect of students’ ability to create and deploy apps in their community, the benefits are endless. Not only will the apps themselves offer solutions to challenges/obstacles faced by students, but they will also fuel student creativity, entrepreneurship, initiative, and an overall interest in STEM. 

 

We can’t think of a better way to deliver an authentic learning experience than by facilitating an environment where students can experience product development from start to finish. Great job, LCS coders! We can’t wait to download your creations.