This browser does not support the Video element.
Poolesville HS students make app to help with school maintenance
Two Poolesville High School seniors have created an app that alerts the school staff to maintenance issues. They are already in talks with the Montgomery County Public School system for it to be adopted county wide.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - Two Poolesville High School seniors have created an app that alerts the school staff to maintenance issues. They are already in talks with the Montgomery County Public School system for it to be adopted county wide.
The backstory:
It started with simple needs — their school is under construction, so sometimes little things went unattended, such as no soap or toilet paper in the bathrooms. So, last summer, Eric Huang and Pranav Karthikeyan got together and created an app they call Ripple.
Huang and Karthikeyan are part of the math and technology program and said they have a passion in computer science and programming and business skills, so creating an app that students and staff can use was something fun to them and they hope will inspire others.
What they're saying:
"A range of maintenance issues running from a broken lock, which is a major securities and concern in our school systems to lack of soap and bathroom, smaller issues like that compound overtime and become larger maintenance issues that CBS has to do it so we’re hoping to address the inefficiencies that CBS has in their school system," Huang said.
It's a user-friendly platform where anyone can report facility issues with the information going to those who can address it. The app allows users to see the status of updates on requests while helping the school system prioritize needs to prevent repeat requests in the future.
"We just got approved for a pilot here in the next coming weeks. Will start putting up QR codes in the bathrooms and going to start getting students on her app and then get data report as soon as possible," Karthikeyan said.
What's next:
Their goal is to make the maintenance request system more efficient and to improve students' learning experience. So far, they say students have been grateful for the app and are excited for it to be put to real use.