The West Hartford students won first place at Trinity College’s Mobile Computer Science Principles Expo.

Submitted by Jenny Bronson, Hall High School Student Activities/Career Center Coordinator

From left: Ralph Morelli, professor of computer science at Trinity College; Christopher Gabow; Michael Wilcosz; Hall High School technology and engineering teacher Joel Margolis. Submitted photo

Hall High School students Christopher Gabow and Joel Margolis designed a mobile phone app they call “Drive Mode” that took first place at Trinity College’s annual Mobile CSP Expo on May 28, 2015.

Students from seven area high schools took place in the expo, which showcases computer science projects they have been working on throughout the school year.

When the 70 participating students took their places at tables set up around the perimeter of the room, they were excited to show their apps to Trinity staff, faculty and students who were invited to vote for their favorites.

The students demonstrated apps inspired by their own or their families’ day-to-day organizational challenges, including apps called “Mama’s Grocery List,” and “Agendall,” as well as fun and educational ones, such as “Quiz of Quiz,” a trivia game, and “Flappy Bron,” a LeBron James-themed game. A total of 37 apps were proudly displayed.

Christopher Gabow (left) and Joel Margolis proudly display their winning app “Drive Mode.” Submitted photo

Gabow and Margolis received first prize for their app called “Drive Mode,” a location-aware app designed to minimize distracted driving by blocking and locking certain phone features while providing some access to necessary features through hands-free capability.

“Drive Mode” garnered special attention at the expo because Gabow and Margolis worked to greatly enhance it to include GPS tracking that helps calculate real-time speed and total distance traveled.

The Mobile CSP project was made possible through a three-year, $926,098 National Science Foundation grant awarded to Ralph Morelli, professor of computer science at Trinity, in conjunction with the Connecticut chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association. The grant provides mobile computer science training to high school teachers through an intensive six-week course. The high school teachers then teach their students the principles they themselves just learned.

Gabow and Margolis are students of Hall High School Technology and Engineering Teacher Michael Wilcosz, who participated in the training course. In addition, Technology and Engineering Teacher Daniel Kolatsky assisted the students with the more abstract programming features to incorporate the haversine formula for the needed calculations.