If it takes a village to lift a toddler, it will possibly take a neighborhood to assist that youth cross Superior Placement, or AP exams, as soon as they’re in highschool.
Curt Lewis has constructed a neighborhood for his college students by creating the High5Wizard, a smartphone app that helps college students put together for these exams.
A instructor at Poway Excessive Faculty for the previous 23 years, his lessons embrace AP U.S. historical past and AP authorities and politics.
“I really like educating at Poway Excessive,” Lewis mentioned. “Our children are so superior.”
Naturally, Lewis has seen a variety of adjustments in his 20 years on the faculty. Amongst them is acknowledging that at present’s youngsters are almost at all times subsequent to their cell telephones. And whereas some may see the fixed contact with their gadgets as a nasty factor, Lewis mentioned he likes to show negatives into positives.
With that angle, he determined to attempt to use the teenagers’ shut associations with their telephones to assist them achieve his lessons.
It was across the finish of 2019, he mentioned, when he requested his college students a few questions that modified all the pieces — what if that they had one thing on their cellphone that might assist them put together for the AP lessons? And if they might create one thing, what would they need?
Primarily based on their response, he determined to create a cellular app, High5Wizard.
“This app is designed to behave as a evaluate and course companion to achieve success within the AP exams,” Lewis mentioned.
He wasted no time in beginning work on the smartphone app, however the product instantly ran right into a delay.
“We began on the app proper earlier than COVID — it was the worst doable time to get something performed,” he mentioned.
However a neighborhood rallied behind Lewis and his app, and grew to incorporate his fast household, current and former college students, fight veterans, a software program improvement firm and even an investor.
The Lewis household; from left, Kathleen Lewis, Jennifer Piatt holding child Gracie; Curt Lewis standing behind Jennifer, Robin Flower, Patrick Lewis and Mike Piatt.
(Courtesy Curt Lewis )
His spouse of three years, Robin Flower, has been instrumental within the enterprise side of creating the app, he mentioned. His daughters, Elizabeth Lewis, 33, and Kathleen Lewis, 23, helped with writing the curriculum. His son, Patrick Lewis, has supplied much-needed ethical assist.
His eldest daughter, Jennifer Piatt, 31, has helped by conducting outreach. Lewis mentioned Piatt and her husband are each within the Navy, stationed at Camp Pendleton.
“We really feel compelled to assist individuals. It’s a part of our DNA,” he mentioned of his household.
Lewis additionally credit many former and present college students who helped launch the product, wrote curriculum and supplied suggestions.
The High5Wizard app, which helps college students put together for A.P. checks.
(Courtesy Curtis Lewis )
He mentioned his buyers, who he names solely because the Reichart household, had been “superior, and made the app doable by their beneficiant assist.”
As a fight veteran deployed to Iraq from 2003-05, Lewis turned to the San Diego chapter of Bunker Labs — a nationwide program that helps army veterans and spouses begin and develop profitable companies and startups — for entrepreneur experience.
“Issues modified a little bit bit whereas I used to be deployed; I do know I modified. However total, youngsters are youngsters,” he mentioned.
As soon as he had the idea for his app, Lewis turned to professionals to develop the product.
“We partnered with the engineers from Kromeon, a software program improvement firm primarily based in Encinitas,” he mentioned. “They produced a product that’s clear, crisp and simply superior.”
He described the product as much like most different apps. As soon as college students obtain it, they will navigate to the content material space they’re involved in.
High5Wizard has a sequence of inquiries to reply in numerous codecs, corresponding to a number of selection or essay. College students can evaluate questions they missed, truth test questions and discover recommendations on how one can succeed on the checks, he mentioned.
The app even presents badges, trophies and a frontrunner board so the teenager may be aggressive with different college students as they examine.
The primary model of the app was launched in 2020. Primarily based on pupil suggestions, Lewis started the app with the AP historical past content material.
As soon as the scholars noticed it and commenced to make use of it, they requested different content material areas, corresponding to calculus and biology. U.S. historical past, world historical past, English, psychology and statistics are among the many areas now out there.
The product was refined in 2021, and has already helped 1000’s of scholars with their AP exams, Lewis mentioned.
Caitlyn Croston, a Poway Excessive Faculty senior, has discovered the High5Wizard app
very useful as she prepares for her A.P. exams.
(Courtesy Caitlyn Croston)
One is Caitlyn “Cait” Croston, a senior at Poway Excessive who has been Lewis’ educating assistant since November 2022. She mentioned she realized the advantages of the app immediately.
“I took his class final 12 months once I was a junior,” Croston mentioned. “I used to be tremendous pressured about class finals. I ended up downloading the app and utilizing it to check. It was very useful.”
She mentioned the app displays what is definitely on the AP checks, and she or he was in a position to acknowledge questions and navigate the exams simpler.
“It actually does enable you put together for checks; even now, I discover myself utilizing it for AP authorities,” she mentioned, including that lots of her fellow classmates use the app as properly.
Of their ongoing efforts to publicize the app, Lewis’ daughter Jennifer lately contacted native TV station, NBC San Diego, leading to a information phase.
Lewis mentioned the phase, which aired earlier this month, generated lots of new curiosity in High5Wizard.
“Final 12 months, we had about 7,000 downloads, however because the information phase aired, we had 4,000 simply that week,” he mentioned, including that “we had been form of floored!”
“We’ve a extremely good product and we need to get it out to all the youngsters, so we’re form of ready for our massive break,” he mentioned.
To date, he mentioned he’s invested 1000’s of hours forming content material, created at the very least 90,000 questions and spent $70,000 of his personal cash, partially, to pay individuals to develop questions for the app.
Regardless of the private price, the app is obtainable to college students totally free — Lewis mentioned he makes no cash from it.
“We need to get this app out to as many individuals as doable, particularly the youngsters that actually want the additional assist, and we need to assist make them profitable,” he mentioned.
As Lewis continues to obtain suggestions and refine the app, he has a number of objectives for the long run.
He’s trying into upgrades, corresponding to making the app web-based, along with it being cellular, to make it out there to extra college students.
He mentioned college students have already been asking for added highschool course materials, particularly in chemistry, algebra and trigonometry.
He’s additionally contemplating beginning a non-profit, with the objective of writing grants and accepting tax-deductible donations.
“I believe the youngsters just like the app and like utilizing it, as a result of we’ve made it related to them and so they know that by utilizing it, it’ll assist them succeed,” he mentioned. “They’re additionally grateful, as a result of they know they’re getting one thing made with love.”
