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Delaware County Sixth Graders Net Big Prize In Technology Competition

DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) -- A team of 6th grade students were recognized in Delaware County in a technology competition, and their state-wide win helped net them $5,000 in STEM grant funding for their school.

A group of students at Northley middle school here in Delaware county was one of two teams statewide to win the Verizon innovative learning app challenge. Doug Smith is Vice President of Government Affairs with Verizon.

"It's a national competition for students in middle school to try and identify a problem and solve that problem from the ground up," said Smith.

12-year-old Julia Dinicola was a member of the winning team who designed the app concept "Garden Aid."

"So you would click the app and you would login. You would come up to a screen and it would have buttons on it; help my garden, call for help, tip of the day and exterminator," said Dinicola.

Their teacher Renée DiPietro says what made their app particularly innovative was the social connection feature.

"So if your neighbor needed to go on vacation they could actually go onto their app and see who else in their neighborhood likes to garden and could come take care of your garden," said Dinicola.

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