Robbinsville teens developing smartphone app to help teens juggle academics and extra curricular activities
By Jessica Oates
Not only are Robbinsville High sophomores Rithika and Revanth Korrapolu making the most of their education, they are designing a platform to help other students achieve their goals, too.
“We’re designing a smartphone app to address the problem that everyday students face: coordinating academic studies with extra curricular activities,” Revanth said.
While Revanth will be developing the app for Android devices, his twin sister Rithika will be working on the same concept for iPhones. Ever since she began studying computer science, Rithika had an interest in building apps.
“My dad works in computer science, so I always had an interest in the subject,” Rithika said. “When I was first learning, I thought it would be fun to create my own game. Now that we have learned enough to start designing one, we thought it would be awesome to make an app that helps students like ourselves balance their athletic and academic demands. We are going to start by enabling the app to import student information like classes and grades from online portals to make them easier to keep track of.”
They hope to make the app a resource that students will use to access how-to videos and high quality online lectures that would help them prepare for exams without wasting time searching online.
“Students have short attention spans, and it is easy to get distracted with social media,” Revanth said. “After 5-10 minutes of searching for information, students lose interest and are likely to give up. The goal is to make high value resources easily available, so that students can spend their time watching an informative video, not searching for one.”
The app is in its initial development stages, and the twins look forward to a weeklong visit over the summer from their cousin, Rohit Korrapolu, who lives in California, to help them move forward. Rohit works in computer science.
Raheel Saleem’s role as varsity tennis coach and academic counselor has led him to become familiar with Rithika and Revanth both as students and as athletes.
“They are more than run of the mill athletes and students,” he said. “When they came in as freshman, they both tested out of all of the 9th grade classes and made the varsity team. They make it a priority to study subjects they are interested in before classes begin, so that they are well prepared for the advanced material. They are always motivated to work hard, whether in the classroom or on the tennis court.”
Saleem said that Rithika and Revanth go out of their way to help other students with schoolwork and with sports, regardless of their age or position on the team. The twins, in turn, said they appreciate Saleem’s guidance.
“I’m so lucky that Mr. Saleem is there to help me with courses and with tennis,” Rithika said. “He knows what I’m going through and understands my interests, so I know I can turn to him when I need help.”
“It’s very nice to have a resource who understands my role as a student and as a tennis player,” Revanth said. “He is aware of our educational expectations and our athletic goals. I’m sure when it comes time to prepare for college, he will be extremely helpful.”
The students’ hunger for knowledge was inspired long before they reached high school by their parents Shankar and Sucharita Korrapolu.
Shankar, a computer science professional, completed his undergraduate studies in India before pursuing his master’s at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He currently works for a government agency in software development. Sucharita is employed as a nurse in a psychiatric hospital.
Shankar explained that he is passionate about education and interested in opportunities to make improvements on elementary and high school levels. This interest spurred him to expose his children to educational programs on television at a young age, focusing specifically on STEM subjects—science, technology, engineering and math—in hopes of inspiring their interest.
“When my kids were young, I knew that we were going to see an evolution in technology over the next few decades that would change everything, from the way we live to the way we communicate,” Shankar said. “Why can’t we take advantage of this in our education, too? At an early age I encouraged them to have fun learning and continued to introduce them to new topics over time. Then, we would discuss what they saw, and learn how to apply the information to the big picture.”
The twins said that their father has been their main source of inspiration over the years, engaging them in thought provoking conversations, and sending them emails with articles about recent scientific developments, which they look forward to on a daily basis. For first hand experience, he travels with them to college laboratories to learn about ongoing research, always finding a new way to make learning fun.
Both students took an interest in computer science, a subject that they are tirelessly pursuing with the intent to find careers in the field.
Rithika, who will have completed AP Computer Science as a sophomore, plans to take an independent study course that will delve into the curriculum even more deeply. She believes this will be beneficial as she and her brother continue to develop a comprehensive smartphone app to help students manage their academics.
Revanth said they hope to release a beta version of the app this August.
Both twins say they are grateful that they have each other for support, and that they are continually inspired by each other.
“The best part about having a twin brother is sharing experiences,” Rithika said.
“We understand what each other is going through, so we are always able to help each other,” Revanth said.
Robbinsville High School sophomores Revanth and Rithika Korrapolu show off the smartphone app they developed. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.),
