Eva Spangler, Reporter
Most students’ senior year is spent with friends, enjoying the last few moments of high school. Seniors Jack O’Hare, Turner Ives, and Ryan Levene are spending their time a little differently. Through social media, these three seniors are getting hands on experience in marketing at an early age.
The iNewCanaan app is a scheduling app for students at NCHS that list the order of their classes each day. Jack, Turner and Ryan were all given the role of promoting and spreading the word of the app to the NCHS community.
The idea of the iNewCanaan app wasn’t originated by NCHS’s very own students, but by two students at University of Pennsylvania. They are creating scheduling apps for schools all around Connecticut and were looking for kids at NCHS to help bring the app to life in New Canaan. “One of my friends from Staples reached out to me and said these two students were looking for some New Canaan students to help them advertise,” Jack said. “They asked me to help them out, so I thought: why not?”
Jack then recruited fellow hockey team members Turner and Ryan along with his sister Ellie O’Hare. With Ryan having prior coding experience, Jack felt he was the perfect man for the job. “I have made a hyper efficient automated program buying and selling sneakers,” Ryan said. “I also took classes at New York University and Harvard during the summer for coding, so I have a lot of experience in app design and web programing.”
With Ryan’s coding experience, the UPenn students didn’t hesitate to reach out and ask for a little help. “I know how to do beta testing, so prior to releasing it to the school I would warm them about what could potentially crash the app,” Ryan said. “I knew what to look for, and they found that very helpful.”
The app is a more advanced version of the schedule NCHS provides with their students now. “You download it and add your classes so you can then see your schedule all the time, everyday, and in the days ahead,” Turner said. “You can also see your friends schedules if they go on public mode, so you can check who’s in your frees.”
The iNewCanaan app is popular for those who struggle remembering what class they have next. “Some students memorize their schedule, but other students still have to look at their schedule after every period to see what class they have next,” Jack said. “I really believe this app will be helpful for all of those students.”
How did three seniors get over half of the student population using this app? The answer is social media. From Facebook to Instagram to Snapchat, Jack, Turner and Ryan weren’t short of the social media platforms they could use to spread the word.
Looking into the future of the app, they have big plans for improving iNewCanaan for all students. “We will be adding support in the next few weeks for the option to write down homework, and robust support for clubs and sports teams,” Ryan said. “We will also be adding support for lunch menus due to popular demand, and an entirely new interface.”
Other NCHS students seem to be getting involved with the app. too. “We’ve been super excited about the response thus far at New Canaan,” Ryan said. “Lots of students have been in touch to offer suggestions, and we have been hard at work with major updates. We’re super excited and hope students are also!”
