SVGS, PBSS, husband and wife duo win in NTRC I2 competition

The Argyle International Airport (AIA) now has a working mobile application prototype, thanks to the St Vincent Grammar School (SVGS) duo of Jared Nichols and Stanislaus Gomes.

Nichols, 12 and Gomes, 11, students of forms two and one respectively, are the winners in the secondary schools’ mobile application category of the 2017 National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC), fifth annual Ideas and Innovation (I2) competition.

The duo (going by the name Astra), along with their mentor, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) teacher at the SVGS Jason Alexis, created a functioning AIA mobile application, called AIA Access, which allows persons to book and track AIA flights, among other things.

The two lads were crowned kings of the secondary schools’ mobile application category of the competition, which came to an end last Wednesday at the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown.

Explaining the app, Nichols said that AIA Access is a centralized booking app that allows persons to book flights online, track the flight using the flight number, look at scheduled flights and know if a flight is delayed. There is also a part of the app that shows events happening at the AIA, a map and a list of stores at the airport.

“Most modern airports have applications and the AIA being new, does not have one, so we just wanted to help them out, said Nichols.

Gomes said that they were happy to win the competition and are looking forward to taking part next year. He is looking at spending his winnings on the development of the application.

Alexis, the boys’ mentor, said that the app was built to work on the android platform, but it can be upgraded to work with Apple and other products.

“It works well. We are hoping that the AIA is interested and if they are, they can contact them,” said Alexis, who added that the application has room for expansion.

For winning, the boys were given EC$3,000 and four tablets from Xpress Data Systems. Alexis was also rewarded monetarily.

Second place in the secondary schools’ mobile application category went to MAKS Squad of the Girls’ High School (GHS). They received EC$2,000 and four smart phones compliments FLOW, while third place went to Breaking Point from the St Joseph’s Convent Kingstown (SJCK). They were given EC$1,200.

In the secondary schools’ innovative idea category, the energetic duo of Nyron Collis and Phyziah Craigg of the Petit Bordel Secondary School (PBSS), going by the name PBSS Innovators, placed first. The form four students, assisted by Stanley Jocelyn, presented an idea, which if implemented will see the islet located in the waters off Chateaubelair transformed into an eco-friendly lodge.

Collis said that they came up with the idea by walking around the North Leeward area, observing and speaking to persons. He said that the idea is designed to create jobs and attract tourists to the area, while keeping intact the natural setting of the small island.

“It’s just there, so we want to turn it into something, so that employment can be created and so forth”, said Collis, who added, “I feel satisfied that I have won the competition for a second time.”

PBSS Innovators won in this category in 2015 with “Zipline to La Soufriere.” They see themselves as a tourism oriented group. They were rewarded with EC$2,000, four smart phones (compliments Digicel) and four cases of Vitamalt (compliments the St Vincent Brewery Ltd).

Second place in this category went to Fearless Leaders of the Central Leeward Secondary School (CLSS), while third place went to the Union Island Secondary School (UISS) group called UISS Geo. They were given EC$1,500 and EC$1,000 respectively.

The newly introduced mobile application open category, which invited members of the public to take part, saw in winners’ row the husband and wife group, LX2, made up of Terbry and Jana Lewis.  

They presented a car pool mobile application, similar to Uber, the taxi application which allows persons to summon a taxi using their smart phone.

‘It’s essentially a car pool app with the Vincentian in mind,” explained Terbry, who said that they wanted the app to be something like Uber, but more affordable, so that everyone could be a part of it.

Basically, the app allows users to sign up as a passenger and from there, one can also register as a driver, once you have a valid driver’s licence and registered vehicle.  

“There is a tab you can click on and you can register as a driver. The app needs some work, but if everything goes well, maybe later we can officially launch it,” said Terbry, who is a graduate of Computer Science from the University of the Southern Caribbean.

Jana is a biology major and her husband said that the app was her idea.

“It’s unreal that we won. The truth is we had a little technical difficulty when we were going through the app, so we were not able to go through what we practised, so we thought that we were out the window already; so it is a shock that we won,” said Jana.

She added, “I think that the competition it is a good initiative and as young people we need to grasp things in our own hands and set our own paths and be a little more productive, instead of just being consumers all the time.”

Terbry commented, “We need to develop more of an entrepreneurial spirit, because a lot of people just want to be employees and the way things are going in St Vincent we need more people to take the risk and be leaders and come up with innovative things.”

The duo said that winning was very rewarding because they put a lot of effort into the applications. They were rewarded with EC$5,000, four tablets, six mobile power packs from King Computer and one case of Vitamalt.

In second place in this category was the father son duo, Green Spin, who won EC$3,000, while the Brogrammers Inc were third and won EC$2,000.

The GHS won the award for the most entries.(LC)