App developers Kim and Ou win award

Move over, Bill Gates! CVHS students Caleb Kim and Stephen Ou are fast on their way to application domination after winning second place in the Alameda County Apps Challenge.

Kim, a senior, and Ou, a junior, managed to beat out over 120 other participants at the Challenge on Dec. 8 and each received a $1,500 prize.

“We were a little surprised and kind of shocked,” said Kim. “We didn’t think we’d get anything, so we were pretty happy at the end.”

The winning app, called the APCR finder, lets users create a customizable map of county parks, using information from the Alameda County Parks and Recreation. Users start by choosing different park amenities, such as basketball courts or hiking trails, that they wish to find. The app then sorts through county parks to find locations that contain all of the preferences chosen. The final product is a personalized map showing all the possible parks suiting the user’s desires.

The duo says that although they plan to use some of the cash prize for themselves, they also decided to donate part of their winnings to help a student from Africa attend high school.

Looking ahead, both students wish to work in the technological field and major in computer science. Ou even hopes to eventually start his own Internet company. The pair also wants to continue to compete together in upcoming contests, and hope to enter the next Apps Challenge.

“We’re planning on doing other competitions and working on small projects together,” said Kim.

Although the future is never certain, there’s one thing for sure: app developers should be on the lookout, because these two teen techies are headed for the top.