She's 11 years old. She is in 5e year. She designed the mobile application on her own Avoid infection. And thanks to her, her school, the School of First Letters (EPL), has just won the Innovation - Coup de cœur 2021 award from the Federation of Private Education Schools (FEEP). Meet Emily Fetco, an extraordinary winner.
Her mother told me that it was the first time she had given an interview to a journalist. It will surely not be the last!
Taking advantage of the fact that her school relies heavily on entrepreneurship, robotics and programming, young Emily got to work. Programming is one of his passions. The other is space. Incidentally, there is also the piano.
Emily explains that the first stage of her project was started in the summer of 2020. She was inspired by her teacher, Claire Le Bohec, who had organized several meetings for them with entrepreneurs during the school year. Emily fell for computer programming. So much so that, given the current context linked to COVID-19, she had the idea of creating an application, which was intended to be "original, unique, but above all practical", she says.
This is how was born Avoid Infection, an application intended for young people of all ages, "to promote prevention against the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections such as the flu," explains the young Quebecer.
The one who is fluent in French also speaks English, Romanian (the language of her parents), Russian and Chinese. When asked why she first chose an English name for her application, she replies: "for no particular reason". Moreover, it is also available in French and the polyglot does not close the door that it is also translated into other languages.
Learn programming
It took six months of “hard work” to develop the concept for its first application. This one features Barbies, characters well known to young girls of her age, who simply show what to do to respect the sanitary instructions.
Six months during which she also learned the four computer programming languages that were necessary for the development of her application (Python, JavaScript, HTML and CSS). "I devoted many hours and provided a considerable effort to make trial and error, many tests and especially to correct the codes", explains the young budding programmer. It mentions that programming requires coding several command blocks, in order to integrate the different functions of the application.
Now available on Google Play Store, the application is easy to use and accessible on Android-type mobile devices. Avoid Infection Above all, it helps educate elementary school children about the pandemic.
Other applications
Yes Avoid infection has already won her an award, we may well hear from Emily Fetco again. She is already working on other applications at the moment.
“I've been very busy lately with the development of other bilingual applications. One follows the international space station in real time so that we can spot it under our location and also displays the astronauts on board. The other is a motivational quotes app which I believe can benefit people's mental health especially in these tough times. "
A story to follow ... And to think that some are bored during confinement!
Main photo: Young kindergarten students at L'École des Premieres Lettres look intently at the application of the great Emily Fetco of 5e year! Courtesy of The School of First Letters
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