We were winners yet again at the annual Apps For Good Final in London last week. Mr Aitken and his team of  pupils Nicolas Mann, Caleb James, Russell Mackenzie, Lewis Buchan and Steven Gunn continued our stellar record in the competition with a win in the Emerging Technology category thanks to their Light Bike Project a bicycle that had been fitted with responsive LEDs to increase rider safety. Accompanying them on their trip was Mrs Anderson and experienced IT pioneers and previous winners Mari-Ann Ganson and Ellora James. Such was their achievement, the boys were even given a congratulatory message in The House of Commons! (see Jamie’ Stone’s Tweet below). Caleb, one of the winning team tells us more:

“We started by driving from Wick to Inverness and then catching a flight from Inverness to London Luton. We took the shuttle to London and took the underground to our accommodation (which was a flat with different bedrooms and a shared kitchen and bathroom area). We spent the rest of the day exploring London and shopping there and in the evening we went to the cinema.

Then the day of Apps for Good arrived, so we woke up early and took off. We went to the venue early to power our Light Bike and get it ready for the event and after that we went to Salesforce. We arrived with the other members of our category (Emerging Technologies) and went to a meeting room. When we were there, the Salesforce people explained to us what they do and how they help people. Then each of our groups went over our presentation and received tips on how we could improve it. After we went over them again, we travelled to the 37th floor of the building (the top floor) and we took lots of photos of the view.

Then we went to the venue and we went to our presentation rooms. I was given the challenge of riding the bike into the room at the start of our presentation. After a couple of practices, we started and I didn’t crash into anyone so we were off to a good start. The presentation went very successfully and we even got one of the judges to ride our bike! We answered a lot of questions and after everyone else’s presentation was complete, we went down to begin the public event, where we would explain to people what our bike did.

When the public event was over, the results began and our category was called out and they announced that we’d won! We were all extremely happy!

The next day we went to the Houses of Parliament because our local MP, Jamie Stone had invited us there because of our amazing product. He showed us around and we went to the visitors room in the House of Commons, where we watched several questions and debates being answered. We got a mention from Jamie Stone about our success and the Speaker congratulated us. We then got a photo with Jamie and began our journey home. I really enjoyed London and all the sights to see and had lots of fun at the Apps for Good event.”

Congratulations to Mr Aitken and the team; you have once again done our school proud.