Cork students recognised for 'Bongo Buddies' app at global tech awards

FOUR Cork students have won an award for social impact at the global Technovation competition for their development of a wellness app aimed at teens struggling with mental health.

Layla O’Driscoll, Roisin Buckley, Leona Islam, and Alicja Skulimowska of St Vincent’s Secondary School were chosen to represent Ireland at the annual event and travelled to California to attend the final awards ceremony last month.

The students won the Social Impact Award in the junior category for their 'Bongo Buddies' wellness app where users can track their feelings and ask the dedicated Bongo chatbot questions.

The app provides certified mental health advice and aims to give positive guidance and ways to cope with challenging situations.

Speaking to The Echo following the students' success in the US, Roisin Buckley described the experience as “so amazing from start to finish”.

“I am so proud of myself and it has given me great confidence. I love that we created the app together as a team, and had the opportunity to present our app at the Technovation World Summit in Silicon Valley,” she said.

“We are so grateful to our parents and Ms Sinead Connolly, our teacher in St Vincent’s, for being an inspiration to us and supporting us all the way.” 

Leona Islam said they really enjoyed presenting as a group to so many people and said that everyone was “so supportive and helpful with their comments and questions” following their presentation.

“Now I actually really enjoy talking to crowds, and I hope I get to do more things like that in the future,” she said.

Skills gained 

Speaking about the skills they have gained, Alicja Skulimowska said: “I can confidently say that the skills we have gained will help us well in the future. Doing this project helped us understand mental health more than we did when we first started it.” She said they have all gained confidence in themselves through the experience and that they have learned how to work in a team and look out for one another.

“It is an amazing achievement, and we are so proud of all that has happened to us. We are very grateful for all the support we have gotten,” she said.

Future plans

Touching on the group’s future plans for the app, Layla O’Driscoll said: “We would like to design and create merchandise linked to our app. Our Bongo mascot was a huge hit.

“We would like to develop our app by adding more stories, more accessibility options where possible, more breathing exercises, more relaxation and coping methods, and more variation in what the chatbot says.

“As we are in Junior Cert we are focused on our studies for the next few months, but we will have time to do so much more with Bongo Buddies.” 

Teacher Sinead Connolly said she was “delighted” that the team did so well, describing the students as “a pleasure to mentor”.

Following their success at Technovation, the group visited Apple in Hollyhill, as the company provides learning support to the school.

Apple VP of European Operations, Cathy Kearney, said: “At Apple, we believe education can be truly transformative, creating opportunity and helping learners realise their potential.

“We are so incredibly proud of the students at St Vincent’s. These young girls truly embody the spirit of innovation and excellence we aim to foster in our community and around the world.”