A remarkable group of girls from the International School of Schaffhausen seized the opportunity to participate in an app design competition organized by an international NGO called Rights Tech Women, in collaboration with Amazon Web Services. This nationwide competition brought together 15 other teams from across Switzerland, all aiming to design an app that would benefit their school or local community. With ingenuity and foresight, the girls swiftly conceived an idea to streamline the donation systems for local charities, ensuring that they receive timely and relevant contributions while minimizing waste. After this initial stage, the girls embarked on a transformative journey, working closely with two mentors from Amazon to develop their app idea. Despite the steep learning curve, they adapted rapidly and embraced each new challenge with unwavering focus and determination. They acquired invaluable skills along the way, including wireframing an app, understanding the process of charity registration and validation, and incorporating cutting-edge Amazon cloud services like AI and encryption techniques.
After four months of arduous work, much of which was undertaken in their own time, the girls received the thrilling news that they had reached the national finals. For this grand finale, they would present their project to a panel of industry experts via video link from Geneva, having 10 minutes to impress them and an additional 5 minutes to field questions. On the day of the final, the girls exuded confidence and delivered a presentation that was unequivocally one of the most impressive I have ever witnessed. While the other two competing apps were also commendable in their own right, the girls’ presentation was so remarkably polished and professional that it simply outshone the rest. In fact, one judge went as far as to say, “It was better than the presentations my colleagues and I deliver for our actual jobs!” This remarkable compliment pays a fitting tribute to the girls’ outstanding performance. Since then the girls have been invited into Amazon Web Services head office in Zurich on Feb 2024 to receive their trophies and spend a day with the cloud development team.
As a school, we are bursting with pride for the girls’ remarkable achievement. Their triumph in this competition is undoubtedly a testament to their talent and hard work. We have no
doubt that they will continue to excel in future challenges and competitions, perhaps even creating more apps that we may all utilize one day.
