RBHS students finalists in World Series of Innovation challenge

River Bluff High students are finalists in a global World Series of Innovation challenge for students that required the students to design an app for a smartphone or tablet computer that would encourage people of all ages to volunteer in their communities.

River Bluff High Juniors Christian Antley, Travis Mize and Helen Wu designed The Helping Hands Project app as part of their RBHS Fluid Design Honors class after record-breaking floods impacted Lexington County in October of 2015. The students found thousands of people were willing to volunteer their time to assist persons in need of assistance as a result of the floods, but many people who wished to volunteer did not know where to go or what they could do to help.

The Helping Hands Project app would enable people to use a smartphone or tablet computer to connect with organizations that need help. By accessing the app, people could view organizations and locations where help is needed, view the type of work that volunteers can perform and even do volunteer work online via a device that is connected to the Internet. People could access the app by creating an account for the app or using their Facebook or Google accounts to access the app.

Public voting began on Tuesday, January 26, and will continue through Monday, February 1, in the People’s Choice portion of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Volunteer for Change Challenge as part of the World Series of Innovation challenge. You can vote for the RBHS students’ Team Helping Hands in the Volunteer for Change Challenge by accessing the World Series of Innovation web site and going to the challenges section or by using the following link: https://innovation.nfte.com/challenges/red-cross. Individuals can vote only once in a 24-hour period, using one single email address.

The RBHS students’ team is one of three finalists in the Volunteer for Change Challenge. The two teams that receive the most votes in the People’s Choice portion of the challenge each will receive a prize of $2,000 and an additional prize of $500 that will be donated to the students’ school.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies also will choose two winning teams in the Adjudicators’ Choice portion of the challenge, with each winning team receiving a prize of $2,000 and an additional prize of $500 that will be donated to the students’ school.