Whom You Know: #LenovoScholars LENOVO SCHOLAR NETWORK NATIONAL COMPETITION WINNERS, “FAN FAVORITE” VOTING, AND 20 NEW NAF ACADEMIES ANNOUNCED

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

#LenovoScholars LENOVO SCHOLAR NETWORK NATIONAL COMPETITION WINNERS, “FAN FAVORITE” VOTING, AND 20 NEW NAF ACADEMIES ANNOUNCED

Lenovo and NAF announced the six winners of the Lenovo Scholar Network Mobile App Development Competition, chosen from hundreds of apps developed by high-school students across 30 NAF Academy classrooms in the U.S. Students at participating NAF academies, received Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and YOGA tablets to aid them in the coding, testing and development of their mobile apps.

The competition is an annual challenge hosted within the Lenovo Scholar Network. Lenovo and NAF launched the Lenovo Scholars Network program two years ago to encourage greater interest among underserved high school students in STEM subjects while enabling them with entrepreneurial and technology skills needed to pursue careers in computer science, programming and engineering.

VOTING OPEN THROUGH JULY 19

The public can explore the six apps and vote for their “Fan Favorite” through July 19. The winning app will be announced during the NAF Next Conference in Orlando, FL in July. At the conference, each winning Student Team will have a chance to present their app, and the Fan Favorite winner will receive recognition on stage for their accomplishments.

The mobile app winners for the 2016 Mobile App Development Competition include:

Emoji Encouragement, North Division High School Academy of IT, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

IMhere, Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, Charlotte, North Carolina

OHS Guidance, Orosi High School Academy of Engineering and Green Technology, Orosi, California

QMT Translator, Edward C. Merlo Institute of Environmental Technology, Stockton, California

Steps to Success, Dr. Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine, Detroit, Michigan

Student Tracker 9000, Crooms Academy of Information Technology, Sanford, Florida

Learn more about the apps, the Student Teams that collaborated and developed them, and help choose the 2016 Fan Favorite by visiting www.lenovoscholars.com/vote2016.

LENOVO SCHOLAR NETWORK GROWTH IN YEAR THREE

As the Lenovo Scholar Network prepares to enter its third year, Lenovo and NAF announced that 20 new NAF academies have been invited by NAF to participate in the program beginning the 2016-2017 academic year. With these 20 additional academies, the program will add an estimated 600 more NAF high-school students across the country. Now supporting 50 academies, Lenovo and NAF will expand enablement of the next generation of developers and entrepreneurs through comprehensive STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) education.

As part of the program, students work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab’s App Inventor development tool, a web-based tool for creating Android apps, to build and test their apps on Lenovo devices. NAF and MIT work together to provide technical assistance to Teachers in the Lenovo Scholar Network, and to develop support materials for teachers using MIT App Inventor.

The 20 Academies that have been invited by NAF to join the Lenovo Scholar Network beginning in the 2016-2017 academic year can be found at http://lenovoscholars.com/participants/

To learn more about the Lenovo Scholar Network and follow along with students’ app creation journey, visit www.lenovoscholars.com or check out the #LenovoScholars hashtag on social media.

“I am pleased to congratulate this year’s six app competition winners. It has been great to see students not only learn critical thinking, team building and analytical skills but also valuable technical skills as demonstrated through the creation of their apps as part of the Lenovo Scholar Network academy curriculum,” said Rob Cato, executive director, Public Sector, Healthcare & Vertical Sales, Lenovo. “Additionally, I am excited to welcome high school students at 20 new academies for the 2016-2017 academic year. After witnessing the success the program has achieved over the last two years, we look forward to continuing our partnership with NAF through the Lenovo Scholar Network and providing students with the STEM skills needed to succeed in today’s workplace.”

“Year after year, we continue to marvel at the exceptional, cutting-edge, and pertinent inventions that our talented students develop as part of the Lenovo Scholar Network’s robust mobile app development program. I’d like to extend our congratulations to these future leaders as well as welcome the new academies to this dynamic network,” said JD Hoye, NAF President. “I’d also like to thank Lenovo once again for their continued support, expertise, and dedication to our mission as we continue our mission to ensure that all high school students are college, career, and future ready.”

About Lenovo

Lenovo is a $46 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode YOGA brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at www.lenovo.com.

About NAF

NAF is a national network of education, business, and community leaders who work together to ensure high school students are college, career, and future ready. NAF’s educational design ignites students’ passion for learning and gives businesses the opportunity to shape America’s future workforce by transforming the learning environment to include STEM infused industry-specific curricula and work-based learning experiences, including internships. Since 1982, NAF has been partnering with existing high schools in high-needs communities to enhance school systems at a low cost by implementing NAF academies – small learning communities within traditional high schools. NAF has grown from one NAF Academy of Finance in New York City to hundreds of academies across the country focusing on growing industries including: finance, hospitality & tourism, information technology, engineering, and health sciences. During the 2015-16 school year nearly 89,000 students attended 716 NAF academies across 36 states, including D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 2015, NAF academies reported 98% of seniors graduated with 92% of graduates with post-secondary intentions. For more information, please visit: http://www.naf.org/

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