Ocean Academy students earned first place in a fierce competition among 15 high schools to solve youth unemployment (25% among 14-25 year-olds in Belize). OA’s winning solution is “Hire Belize,” a mobile app designed and created by the students to connect youth with potential employers and customers. Judges were able to try out the app prototype on Android phones during the presentation. The prize package includes a mentoring partnership with Beltraide and $2000bz to take the prototype to the next stage of development for real-world applications. Each student also won a cash prize and the school won a laptop. Students finessed presentation and communication skills and really worked cohesively as a team. The competition was organized by PwC, Peacework and the Belize Ministry of Education. A big thanks to team mentors: Shola Babb of Belize Tourism Board, Sam Liu and Valbona Bushi of PwC, Ariel Samara and Heidi Curry of Ocean Academy. Channel 5 News reports the full story here: http://edition.channel5belize.com/archives/113134