This week, Tim Cook surprised 14 Swift Student Challenge winners with a rare opportunity: present their work to the CEO of Apple. After having the chance to witness this special event on Sunday, I had the opportunity after the WWDC keynote to sit down with four of the student developers and ask what the experience meant for each of them. Here’s my chat with Elana Galluzzo (Care Capsule), Shinwon Lee (Melody), AJ Nettles (CryptOh?), and Desmond Blair (MTB-XTREME).
Interview
Zac Hall:
First of all, congratulations on this cool experience! Getting to witness that yesterday was really neat.
So what was the experience like for you, Elena? I think you thought you were presenting to Susan Prescott, and you were. And then Tim Cook comes in the room and that’s who you demo to. What was that like?
Elena Galluzzo:
It was already such an honor to be able to demo to Susan, but Tim! All the surprises that they’ve been planning for us, it’s really encouraging. It’s showing us that they really care about the future of developers and us as students.
So I thought it was such an honor. It was very cool to be able to talk about our app and they wanted to listen to it.
Zac:
What does the experience mean to you?
Elena:
Getting to do all of this means a lot. Especially since I’ve only been coding for about a year and a half. When I submitted the project, it was only a little bit over a year.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep learning or if it was going to be for me. But winning the contest was a big motivator to believe in my abilities.
Everybody doubts themselves, especially when they’re first learning something, so it meant for me that I want to continue on this path and I have more confidence.
Zac:
Pretty good signal that you’re doing something right.[laughs] What about for you, AJ, what was the surprise like with Tim Cook in the room?
AJ Nettles:
I was already trying to get my nerves together for Susan. I presented my app a couple times, but for some reason, it felt different in person.
I’m the third one in line, so I’ve got to get myself together quick. Then all of the sudden, they say “hold on, we have a special guest.” I’m like, “who could this special guest be?” [laughs]
And as I turn, I see the blue jacket and the hair, and I’m like “oh, uh, panic!”
Zac:
You both bonded from being from Alabama.
AJ:
That was another thing that did something for me. When he said my hometown…
Zac:
Monroeville, right?
AJ:
Yes. That did something for me. He gets where I came from.
Zac:
Did it help comfort you?
AJ:
I think so. When I look back at when I presented to him, everything came naturally. I usually stutter or stumble over my words, but I just feel like I flowed.
Zac:
For you, Shinwon, what was the surprise of Tim Cook being who you presented to like?
Shinwon LeElena:
I was nervous because I was going to meet Susan, but when I saw Tim Cook, I was super super nervous.
AJ said he was doing it very naturally, but on my side I cannot remember anything about what I talked about. [laughs]
Zac:
For Melody, I wrote that I recall mouthing “woah.” Seeing the hand gestures in the air, with it being the Mac, and playing sounds this way, I was moved by that. So there’s one thing to remember, I mean, “woah!”
Shinwon:
Thank you.
Zac:
And for Dez, you think you’re going to present to Susan Prescott, which is a little nerve wracking, and then you get the surprise element of Tim Cook and his entourage walking in the room. You were first…
Dezmond Blair:
I was first first on the chopping block!
Zac:
You were in the middle of presenting to Susan, and then needed to start again. What did that do for you?
Dezmond:
It definitely pumped me up the whole day. I was shaking after that. I couldn’t really get over it all day. I was just telling people all about it and how cool of an experience it was.
When that happened, I was in the middle of talking to Susan and everything. Then Tim walks in and she’s like, “OK, wait.” He walked over and I was like, “oh no!”
I completely lost all confidence. [laughs]
Zac:
It was a fire of a presentation and i think you did excellent.
Dezmond:
I do appreciate you saying that.
Zac:
For your Care Capsule app, Elena, I was moved. I’ve read a little bit about your story. When I was 22, I was a caregiver for my grandmother with stage 4 cancer. I tried to do through iPad what I could with making it easier for both her and myself. I was impressed with your vision to make your app for that purpose and have it be so well thought out at your age.
Elena:
Thank you for sharing that with me and it’s very touching that you resonated with that.
When I was a baby, I lived at my grandparents’ house with my parents. I don’t remember what age I was, but I was very young when I noticed that my grandmother was going through changes.
She was the one that took care of us the most when we were really young. I was always wondering: “why is everybody so much sadder than usual? Why is she changing?”
As the years went by, she regressed slowly but severely.
Today she can’t do anything on her own. She can’t communicate. She hasn’t been able to eat a meal for a long time. She can’t swallow hard foods. She can’t walk.
I still live with her, and yes, it’s hard on the whole family. It’s especially hard on my grandfather. right?
They’ve shared a room their whole lives and I’m sure he feels a lot lonelier because of this, but he also lives with his his daughter and his grandchildren.
Imagine the case with elderly people that don’t have that many people in their immediate circle. How lonely they may feel.
That’s why I think elder care is a touching topic for me. It’s something that resonates with me. Also, Canada in particular has an aging population. A lot of countries do. I think that focusing on solutions or assistance for the elderly is very, very relevant and very important in the coming years too.
Zac:
Describe the chatbot aspect of Care Capsule.
Elena:
The chatbot function has three main purposes. It incorporates logic in addition to machine learning.
Functions include basic partnership, basic conversation, and sentiment analysis relating to loneliness and depression. Those are common for older adults.
I wanted the messages in that portion to be able to be passed through the machine learning model and determine if the user may have feelings of depression or low sentiment. If so, it offer resources that are particularly catered for older adults.
I want to expand it to provide app related responses in case the user may not be as literate. Like “how do I set up my memories,” or “how do I track my medication?”
Zac:
AJ, CryptOh?, what has the reaction been for people that you shared your app with?
AJ:
They didn’t really know how much effort went into passwords.
It’s kind of an easy process: I create a username, I create passwords, and that’s it. I submit, and I have an account.
They didn’t realize that a password has to be hashed, and it has to be stored in their database, and it has to be compared against to know that it’s you.
And the interactive features has helped them understand how it at least works on the server’s end.
They are starting to use this as a starting point because CryptOh? is really just a concept. I wish I could do it bigger.
So they’ve been pretty open to it. It’s changing their view.
Zac:
We’re out of time, but I really appreciate you all being here. This was terrific.
And just by where you all are in your development stage, you have a future.
It’s a very positive sign that you’re doing something right.
More
Additionally, Apple CEO Tim Cook shared comments on each student’s project.
“Coding has the power to transform people’s lives, and young developers like Elena are showing just how that’s possible,” Cook says. “Elena’s app has the potential to improve the lives of older adults all across Canada, and her creativity and commitment to community are extraordinary.”
“At Apple, we’re passionate about using technology to help people unlock their creativity and bring their ideas to life,” he adds. “That’s what Shinwon has done with her impressive app that makes the act of creating music simple and fun. It’s wonderful to see how Shinwon has used her own creativity to help others tap into theirs, and I can’t wait to see her next big idea.”
“We care deeply about our users’ privacy and security, and it’s great to see a developer like AJ doing his part to help people keep their data secure,” says Cook. “By spreading awareness about the importance of strong passwords, AJ’s app is combatting the rising threat of hacking and helping users protect their personal information. It’s a wonderful example of the impact developers are making all across America, and I can’t wait to see what he does next.”
“At Apple, we believe in technology’s amazing power to enrich people’s lives, and help them connect even more deeply with the world around them,” Cook says. “That’s why it was so wonderful to meet Dezmond this week, and see the app he’s created to share his love of mountain biking with users everywhere. And by creating an experience for Apple Vision Pro, Dezmond is on the cutting-edge of a whole generation of developers pushing the limits of what’s possible with technology.”
Learn more about the Swift Student Challenge winners here.
Interview edited for clarity.
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