McAuliffe Charter Students Design Wellness Wheel App

FRAMINGHAM, MA - ​Team Innovators, a small group of 8th grade scholars at the Christa McAuliffe Charter School, took home the ”Best in State” award in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge for their app concept titled “Wellness Wheel.”

The app was awarded first place amongst 1,200 other middle school submissions.

The members of Team Innovators are students Brinda Purimetla, Brooke Perreault, Jack Landsiedel, Sahil Muthuswami, Arnav Gupta, Caroline Mazariegos, and Mihir Parekh.

The Verizon App Challenge is a nationwide contest for middle- and high-school-aged students that challenges them to develop concepts for mobile apps that solve a problem in their community.

The Challenge is a hands-on process aimed to equip students with skills needed to succeed in the jobs of the future.

To enter student-led teams must work together to develop an essay and a video Team Innovators’ app concept, “Wellness Wheel” is geared towards teens and focuses on the whole child wellness, both physical and emotional.

Click here to watch the Team Innovators’ submission.

Students participating in the challenge have appreciated the opportunity to contribute to society using the technology they use everyday.

“The challenge is a good way to be creative and solve a problem at the same time” said Framingham grade 8 student Jack Landseidel.

The students also recognized some of the challenges within the competition not directly connected to developing an app.

“It was challenging to create one idea that we all thought would work, but it was important to us because as 8th graders, we are passing on our experiences to future scholars,” said student Caroline Mazariegos.

Now that Team Innovators have won the state round, the team is ready to compete in the regional round of the competition.

Regional winners earn $15,000 and the opportunity to work with MIT to take their app concept through the development process.

They also have a chance to win the Fan Favorite Award. This award holds the same prize as the regional winner but is selected based on the team with the highest votes.

The Fan Favorite voting is open now through Jan. 31.

To support Team Innovators in their quest to win the Fan Favorite Award, text WELLNESS2 to 22333 today.

“We are so proud of our scholars for being the best in state in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge,” said Kristin Harrison, Executive Director of Christa McAuliffe Charter School. “We are excited to support Team Innovators as they progress to the regional round and encourage our entire community to support them winning the Fan Favorite Award. We hope everyone will text WELLNESS2 to 22333

​The Christa McAuliffe Charter School is a diverse Expeditionary Learning public school for students in grades 6 – 8, based in Framingham. The school’s hands-on curriculum cultivates high levels of student engagement, responsibility for learning, and enduring character growth. Students are accepted to the public school via lottery.