Students at the Innovation, Design, Entrepreneurship Academy (IDEA) put their entrepreneurship skills into practice, pitching their ideas for new apps and accompanying business plans to local community leaders at the Startup Tech Showcase.
Student teams developed the business plans and functioning prototypes for each application over the past year in partnership with the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE – pronounced “nifty”). Each plan was designed to meet a need they identified in their community.
One team created “Notefy,”a note-taking app that allows students to easily share notes with one another and includes built-in tips and games to help teach positive study habits. Another team noticed their deaf friends struggling to place orders at restaurants. To support their friends and others like them, they created “A Hope that Helps” – an app to translate text to audio and vice-versa, including seamless integration with the websites of local restaurants.
The teams competed for three prizes of up to $350 generously donated by NFTE and Verizon.
Here are the winners for the Startup Tech Showcase.
| Company | Members | |
| 1st | A Hope That Helps | Angel Owens Harmoni Smith Korlexis Jefferson |
| 2nd | Close Med | Jennifer Hernandez Del Angel |
| 3rd | Metro Fits –
Perfect Outfit App |
Anjel Owens Korjelious Jefferson |
A Hope That Helps
A Hope That Helps is a mobile app that helps deaf individuals in Dallas to purchase food from the restaurant of their choice. The app offers users the ability to translate audio into text, translate text into audio, and purchase food in app.
Perfect Outfit
Perfect Outfit is an app that allows you to try on clothes virtually to always find the perfect outfit. Enter your measurements, upload a picture, and try on outfits until you find the perfect outfit.
Close Med
Close Med helps individuals find nearby urgent care centers that accept their insurance. Users can select their health care plan and receive a list of urgent care centers that will accept their insurance.
