May 30, 2023
Behavior
The winners of the Apple WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge to share their passion with the world
Every year, as part of the Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple issues a challenge to students around the world: Create an original app playground using the Swift coding language. This year, Apple increased the number of winners to 375 from 350 in previous years, allowing more students to be included in the event and recognized for their wisdom and ingenuity.
“We’re amazed by the talent we see from the young developers who take our Swift Student Challenge,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of global developer relations. “This year’s submissions demonstrate not only the next generation’s commitment to building tools that improve our lives, but also their desire to embrace new technologies and tools and deploy them in original and innovative ways.”
When WWDC23 kicks off on June 5, challengers will be among those present in person and in person to witness the keynotes, events, labs and activities available to the global Apple developer community this year.
Their app playgrounds represent more than 30 countries and regions, and cover a variety of topics such as health, sports, entertainment, and the environment. But all the winners have one thing in common: they’re using code to share their passion with the world. For first-time winners Asmi Jain, Yemi Agesin, and Marta Michelle Caliendo, coding is an opportunity not only to forge a unique career path, but to help others along the way.
20-year-old Asmi Jain was at MedCap University in Indore, India, when she learned that her friend’s uncle needed brain surgery. As a result, eye distortion and facial paralysis remained.
Jane jumped into action by designing her winning playground to track the user’s eye movements to follow a ball moving around the screen. The purpose of the playground is to help strengthen the eye muscles, and although it was inspired by her friend’s uncle, Jane can use it for people with various eye diseases and injuries.
“It was important to me to create an app playground that could positively impact the lives of people like him,” says Jain. “My next goal is to get feedback and make sure it’s effective and user-friendly, and then release it on the App Store. Ultimately, I want to expand it to help strengthen all the muscles in the face, and hopefully one day it will be used as a therapeutic tool that people like my friend’s uncle can use at their own pace.
Jane’s interest in using coding to solve problems in the healthcare sector stemmed from several years of volunteering to help those around her. Recently, she and a few other students created a discussion forum at her university where her classmates had a support system to solve tough coding problems.
“Feeling like you’re part of something big motivates you and pushes you to do better,” says Jane. “Coding allows me to create things that help my friends and community, and it gives me a very empowering sense of autonomy.”
For many young people, growing up and moving to different countries is a burden, but 21-year-old Yemi Agesi sees it as a blessing. Before returning to the United States, his family lived in Germany, Nigeria, Belgium, and England.
“You learn a lot about the world when you travel,” said Agesin, who began his senior year at Kennesaw State University in Georgia. “I think that helps me a lot because when I build things, I always try to consider and design for multiple perspectives.”
Agesin’s winning app Playground is a first-person baseball game that references his two passions, sports and filmmaking. He’s writing a movie about a baseball player that’s set to take place not only over the next few months but this summer — but also about his future goals.
“Coding gives me the freedom to feel like an artist—my canvas is the code editor, and my brush is the keyboard,” says Agesin. “For my next two projects, I’m designing a sports game where you compete against other players in real time in a team. And I’m planning an app that uses augmented reality to help filmmakers visualize their graphics and effects while shooting on an iPhone.
It’s no surprise that ARKit and RealityKit are what Agesin is most excited to learn about at WWDC23. He’s eager to add to his growing toolbox and learn how you can help turn his ideas into transformative applications.
“Using code, I can build worlds that people can use and at the same time I can build a career for myself that unites my interests,” says Agesin. “I feel blessed and lucky to live in a time and age where I can do this.”
For 25-year-old Marta Michelle Caliendo, her passion for paleontology — the scientific study of life in fossils — isn’t about the future as much as the past.
“Dinosaurs should be a constant reminder to all of us to protect biodiversity,” said Caliendo, who is studying at the Apple Developer Academy in Naples and pursuing a natural sciences degree at Federico II in Naples. “Coding helps me find new ways to express the message and share it with others.”
Caliendo’s winning app, Playground, is a memory game that features anatomy-accurate pictures of dinosaur fossils that she drew on iPad Procreate, made even more impressive by the fact that she only learned Swift in September.
“I first encountered Swift when I started the academy, and it was beautiful because it was so intuitive and simple,” says Caliendo. “I really like this programming language because it allows me to share a part of my personality through my code.”
As for the future, Caliendo wants to build apps that help protect animals and the natural environment – especially reptiles and amphibians. That’s what led her to start planning an app to help scientists and volunteers monitor and protect sea turtle nests along the Italian coast.
“I studied the animals we lost to help preserve the ones we still have,” says Caliendo. “We all have the opportunity to change things in the world in a positive way, and I see technology and coding as tools that I can use.”
Apple is proud to support and grow developers, inventors, and entrepreneurs through the annual WWDC Student Program. Over the past three decades, thousands of students have built successful careers in technology, founded startups, and created organizations focused on democratizing technology and using it to build a better future.
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Apple
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