A Falmouth teenager is rubbing elbows with some of the biggest names in tech this week, thanks to the coding platform he developed to help students with Down syndrome learn more effectively.
John Wahlig, a 16-year-old Falmouth High School sophomore, was one of just 350 students worldwide to receive a scholarship to attend Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference this week in San Jose, California.
Just 5 percent of applicants are approved for scholarships, according to Apple, meaning more than 6,000 students sought the honor. Wahlig believes he’s the only student from New England to receive a scholarship.
“It was really great news,” Wahlig said during an interview Friday. “With that many people applying, I didn’t think I’d get in, to be honest with you.”
A ticket to Worldwide Developers Conference is worth $1,599, not including travel costs or the hotel. To even have a chance to purchase a ticket, potential attendees have to enter a random lottery through Apple.
Wahlig earned the trip by creating a demonstration platform that helps code iPad applications suited for teaching students with Down syndrome. The applications can help students to “absorb smaller, easier chunks of information,” via animate items on the screen to draw attention or display single words in sequence rather than as large boxes of text, for example, Wahlig said.
”This platform allows for instant feedback, instant checking and reinforcement,” Wahlig said. “That’s something paper can’t do.”
Wahlig did a lot of research about how people with Down syndrome learn as he built the application, he added.
He built the demo using Swift Playground, an application for iPad that developers use to create other applications using Apple’s Swift programming language. He hopes to release his app in the near future.
Wahlig’s already trying to influence the tech world starting in Falmouth. He started a group for Falmouth elementary school girls who want to learn the basics of coding. It only took about three hours for the eight spots to fill up when the group launched last fall, Wahlig said.
Nationwide, computer-focused industries are dominated by men, with only about 25 percent of the jobs filled by women. As the number of IT and tech jobs continues to swell in coming years, it will be increasingly important to draw more women into the field.
“When you’re developing an app, you want perspectives from everybody,” Wahlig said.
Wahlig said he plans to make good use of his time in San Jose, meeting key people in tech industries at the conference. He’s also looking forward to swapping stories other scholarship recipients.
“I’m hoping I can pick up a lot of technical knowledge and I’ll be inspired, and my work can help inspire other people to make their programing goals become reality,” Wahlig said.
Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213.
Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.