RESACA STUDENTS STAR IN HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH COMMERCIALS

Students from Resaca Middle School are in the national spotlight again.

This time, the developers of the Hello Navi app are the focus of television commercials in English and Spanish for Verizon highlighting Hispanic Heritage Month Sept. 15-Oct. 15.

The commercials will air on several national television networks, including Spanish-language network Telemundo.

To view the commercials visit http://hispanic.verizon.com/creafuturo/.

Hello Navi is the name of the app created by six Resaca female students who won Best in Nation in the 2013 Verizon Innovative App Challenge. They created in app for their visually impaired classmate Andres Salas to help him navigate around the school.

Cassandra Baquero, Grecia Cano, Kaitlin Gonzales, Kayleen Gonzalez, Janessa Leija and Jacquelyne Torres wrote the concept for the app to assist Andres. Their teacher/sponsor Maggie Bolado submitted the application to Verizon, launching the success.

The app has since been launched by Verizon on the Google Play store for Android mobile devices.

Their inspirational story has drawn national attention. The group was one of 18 invited to the White House Science Fair May 27, and President Obama met them and took a group photo with them. At his White House Science Fair speech, Obama recognized the Resaca students first and ended his speech with “Not only do these girls have big brains, but they also have big hearts.”

Verizon chose to focus on the students’s success because of their Hispanic heritage. Verizon posted the following on its website about Hispanic Heritage Month:

“As a way to celebrate and recognize the contributions of Hispanics to America’s history, the nation honors Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 through Oct. 15. Throughout the month-long celebration, Verizon Wireless will recognize Hispanics who are helping shape the future of this country and are a source of inspiration with its introduction of the “Heritage of Tomorrow” program, a national communications website accessible in both English and Spanish.

One group of future leaders featured in the program and helping make an impact today is a winner of the 2013 Verizon Innovative App Challenge. The team of Latina girls from Resaca Middle School in Los Fresnos, Texas developed an app called Hello Navi that was inspired by the girls’ blind classmate and assists visually impaired people in navigating inside buildings.

Like the girls who developed the app, many Hispanics are making their mark today by building the nation’s heritage of tomorrow in fields such as entrepreneurship, science and innovation, and film and music with Verizon Wireless technology that empowers them with unique solutions.
The future is made stronger when we come together to support the ideas of those who accomplish what they set out to do.”