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Montgomery Central High School Students Win Best in State Award from Verizon

MCHS Now Eligible to Win a National Award

Montgomery Central High School - MCHS - IndiansCunningham, TN – Students from the Montgomery Central High School Academy of Plant and Animal Systems were named Best in State winners of the fifth annual Verizon Innovative Learning app challenge.

A nationwide contest, the Verizon App challenge invites competition from students to design mobile app concepts aimed at improving and solving for societal issues in their schools and communities.

MCHS Academy of Plant and Animal Systems will prepare students for post-secondary opportunities in the 21st century world of agriculture
MCHS Academy of Plant and Animal Systems will prepare students for post-secondary opportunities in the 21st century world of agriculture

The Best in State winners were chosen from more than 1,800 teams from across the country who submitted concepts for review by a panel of judges.

The team, sponsored by teacher Benton Jackson and Academy administrator Will Ferrell, will receive $5,000 from the Verizon Foundation for their school, along with tablets for each student team member.

“Buddy Central, the team’s app concept, was designed as a way for students to meet friends with like interests, create awareness of school events such as academic tutoring, clubs, and athletic events, in efforts to provide a social media outlet for students at the school,” according to Becky Padgett, Academic Coach for all seven of The Academies at CMCSS.

MCHS Academy team begins developing app concept
MCHS Academy team begins developing app concept

Students began work on this app concept after entrepreneur Mark Cleveland met with students from all seven Clarksville Montgomery County School System (CMCSS) college and career academies to encourage them to not let fear stand in the way of innovation.

“This is another example of how our students get competitive advantages in our school system,” stated Director of Schools, Dr. B.J. Worthington. “The Academies at CMCSS were designed to be small learning communities where students who share a common interest can collaborate on real-world, problem-based learning opportunities that are related to their career interests. A team from one of our Academies winning this award is a testament to the strength of our programs.”

The team will go on and compete to earn one of eight Best in Nation awards, selected by a panel of education and industry experts, and the Fan Favorite award, determined by public voting. The eight teams named Best in Nation and the team voted as Fan Favorite will receive an additional $15,000 for their school, club or organization, the chance to build their concepts into working apps with experts from MIT and an all-expenses-paid trip to the TSA Conference in Orlando, FL in June 2017.

Voting for the Verizon Innovative Learning app challenge Fan Favorite award opens January 16th and ends February 14th. To vote, review the student submissions, pick your favorite team and text its code to 22333. Voting is free and standard texting rates apply, according to your service plan. Best in Nation and Fan Favorite winning teams will be announced on February 15th, 2017.

On January 16th, visit https://appchallenge.tsaweb.org/vote and help the Montgomery Central team win the Fan Favorite award!

About The Academies at CMCSS

The Academies at CMCSS The Academies at CMCSS are schools within a school aligned to a specific career theme. They are college and career preparatory small learning communities in which a select group of students focus their core class experience around a common career interest.

Students share many of the same teachers, allowing educators to collaborate with each other in the coordination of lesson planning and classroom activities that align to the academy theme. Incoming high school freshmen and rising sophomores have the opportunity to apply to seven different college and career academies across the district.

For more information on The Academies at CMCSS, visit http://www.cmcss.net/schools/academies.aspx

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