As part of this years Get up to Speed with STEM event, secondary schools were invited to take part in an app design challenge set by CityFibre.

CityFibre, the UK’s largest alternative provider of wholesale fibre network infrastructure and the builder of Gigabit Cities, sponsored the challenge which was created by Rotherham Titans Community Foundation. The challenge was supported by AND Digital who shared their knowledge and expertise with students taking part on weekly Zoom calls.

The challenge, was to design an engaging app that raised awareness around health issues and tracked progress towards a healthier lifestyle by encouraging healthier eating and physical activity. Several schools rose to the challenge, including Aston Academy, Dearne Valley College, Swinton Academy and Wales High School. The teams carried out the majority of the project virtually through the national lockdown, which meant teams had to work together remotely and come up with their ideas. The project finished with judging taking place during Get up to Speed with STEM on Zoom with our VIP judges. The teams took it in turns to present their app designs and the winner was announced by Natalie Ward (City Manager at CityFibre) during the Virtual Business Breakfast Networking Event on Friday 26th March 2021.

The judges were incredibly impressed with all of the teams who took part, and were amazed to see what they had achieved during the lockdown.

The Work-wise Foundation is now in talks with CityFibre and AND Digital to see how the winning app design could be brought to life and eventually rolled out to the public.

John Barber, CEO of The Work-wise Foundation, said: “It was incredible to see the students work on this project virtually, their dedication is really inspiring and their ideas were just brilliant. I’d like to say a big thank you to all of the schools who took part, and to Jamie Cooke from Rotherham Titans who came up with the challenge – and, of course, a huge thank you to CityFibre for making the challenge possible and AND Digital for being so supportive with their technical expertise. Initially, when we made the decision to take Get up to Speed with STEM online for this year, we weren’t sure if we could do an Innovation Challenge – but the students and organisations involved proved that anything is possible! Well done to all.”

In May, representatives from CityFibre, AND Digital, Rotherham Titans and The Work-wise Foundation all carried out a socially distanced visit to Aston Academy to award the students with their trophies for winning the challenge.