Yo-Stem students prove why they’re good enough for the world, congress

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -Two teams under Yo-Stem Outreach aren’t just building robots or phone apps, they’re building a reputation across the world and nation.

Austin-East Magnet High School students, TaMiyah Stenson and Benjamin Heath-Curtis and L&N STEM Academy student Catherine Chen worked with mentors to develop an app called Student Accountability Assistant. The app was designed to help students keep track of homework, projects, tests and provide reminders for when they are due.

After submitting a video presentation, the group was selected to House of Code’s Capitol Hill Reception, which is hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives held in Washington D.C. in the spring. The Student Accountability Assistant App will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol Building and featured on the House of Representatives’ website.

“I was both surprised and grateful that we get to have the congressional recognition, which I don’t believe Austin Magnet High School gets much of,” Curtis said.

A ball-collecting robot earned a group of three middle school students a trip to Dallas to compete in a world competition.

“It is the way of the future right? At some point, you know, someone’s going to have to be able to fix the robots. Somebody’s going to have to be able to build robots, someone’s going have to be able to program robots,” said Candice Halbert, Yo-Stem founder. “Having our students see people that look like them or that they can identify with, really helps them to say, ‘Hey, you know, I can do this. You know, Ms. Candice is a scientist. She’s a chemist, then. Yeah, I can I can do this as well.’”

Some of the students were traveling out of the state for the first time and were asking for support by visiting their fundraising website.

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