HISD students showcase technology skills during third annual Together with Tech contest

Mobile investment apps are the wave of the future, and there is a new one on the market designed to turn novice investors into seasoned financial pros – created entirely by two seniors from Bellaire High School.

Co-founded by students Ryan Knightly and James Wei, InvestorPrep is a free mobile app that aims to make learning about investing an easy and engaging process by teaching how to invest in various securities through different styles. The app, which is available on both Apple and android platforms, contains a wide range of lessons from basic investing terminology to advanced investing methods.

“We designed InvestorPrep to make investing more accessible and intuitive,” Knightly wrote in his blog, The Floating Point. “We are both pleased to bring the knowledge of investing to new people every day.”

And now, Knightly and Wei can add the term “award-winning developers” to their already long list of accomplishments.

This weekend, more than 250 high school students, including the InvestorPrep team, presented technology-based projects they have developed throughout the school year at HISD’s third annual Together with Tech Contest.

InvestorPrep won big, taking home the first-place award in the Code.it Category. Bellaire High School almost swept the category, also claiming second place for the Fresh Food App, which helps get fresh, nutritious food to “food deserts” throughout the Houston area.

Projects were presented to a panel of judges from companies such as Baker Hughes, ExxonMobil and Code Park Houston, and they were required to offer a tech-based solution to a defined problem for the communication, transportation, and justice fields, and into one of the following categories: mobile/web app (Code.it), multimedia production (Digital Voice) or working model/prototype (Engineering a Solution).

The top team in each category received $1,300 in scholarship money. The winners of the 2019 Together with Tech conference are listed below:

Code.it 

1. Bellaire High School 
Financial Literacy App (https://investorprep.weebly.com/)

2. Bellaire High School
Fresh Food App – Collecting Food before it is thrown out and distributing it in food deserts.

3. Challenge Early 
Connect App – Consolidated resource app for parents and students.

Engineering A Solution

1. Energy Institute High School
Improving Transportation Efficiency in Houston

2. Worthing High School Hydroponics
Going Green, Eating Green and Saving Green. 

3. Eastwood Academy
Safe Pedestrian Crossing Project

Digital Voice

1. Chavez High School
Anti-Bullying Campaign (physical and digital campaign)

2. DeBakey High School
Autism Awareness Campaign and App creation

3. Kinder HSPVA
Sexual Assault Awareness Campaign (https://outofthecourtroom.weebly.com/)