AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Three Lakeside High School students developed an app to help students’ mental health both inside and outside of school.
The app is called Tempo. The students created it as part of the Congressional App Challenge and won in their district.
Sai Lakkamsetty, Arnav Patel and Stephen Zhang turned an idea into something bigger.
“For me, it was a great opportunity to do some software development for good,” Zhang, a 10th-grade student, said.
Growing concern
The three students saw a growing concern and built a solution.
“Many teens are getting overwhelmed with different types of exams and different types of homework,” Patel, a 10th-grade student, said. “This app is something that we believe can be very empowering to students of our age and generation.”
CDC data shows nearly 40% of high school students report persistent sadness or hopelessness, and about 30% say their mental health is poor.
“I think that a lot of the high pressure and the desire to achieve is causing some anxiousness and some stress for some of our kids,” Alyssa Johnson, a school counselor at Episcopal Day School, said. “Sometimes that can bring about this feeling and sense of perfectionism.”
How Tempo works
Tempo helps users stay focused and mentally active through planning tools, brain games, and built-in breaks.
“Teens are always on the internet, always on their phones,” Lakkamsetty, an 11th-grade student, said. “And this is a way to integrate that healthy aspect onto the phone and make sure that our youth are staying grounded. And phones are a great source of accessibility.”
The students hope that when Tempo launches in the App Store, it reaches beyond their school walls. The recognition validates that their idea matters.
“It’s everybody’s dream that the app is gonna be used by millions or billions or whatever, but I think personally for me, if I could just see even just a few dozen people in this area using this app, I think I would be pretty happy because we would be giving back to this community,” Zhang said.
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