A familiar question inspired Aidan Underwood to create his award-winning app, Hawkeye.
"I originally got the idea for my app when my mom asked me if a website was safe for her to go on," said Underwood. "After checking on a number of different websites for my mom, I began to think about what I could do to help her and potentially help thousands of other people. That's when I decided to try and make a program that would answer that question for her and others automatically."
Aidan has a gift for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. That passion took him from Wilderness Oak Elementary School to the STEM Academy at Nimitz Middle School. In seventh grade, he met a teacher who would encourage his passion for all things STEM.
"Mrs. Sandra Geisbush was the teacher who inspired and encouraged me to make and continue developing this app," said Underwood. "I had her in seventh grade as my science teacher and decided to take two of her classes in eighth grade because of how great she was! Even though I've moved on from the STEM Middle School, Mrs. Geisbush continues to be an amazing mentor and supports me along the way."
With incredible skill and determination, Aidan developed Hawkeye as a freshman at the STEM Academy at LEE High School and entered it into Congressman Chip Roy's 2020 Congressional App Challenge. In December, Aidan found out that he won the challenge during a Zoom session with Rep. Roy.
"When he announced that I won, I was very surprised and excited! It was really nice to be recognized for all of the hard work that I put into my app."
Aidan hopes his app will be used to steer users away from websites linked to costly internet scams.
Are you interested in joining one of our innovative STEM magnet programs? CLICK HERE to learn more about the opportunities available to NEISD students. The deadline to apply is Friday, Feb. 12.
