App by Chennai Team With Destitute Girls Win First Prize at Prestigious US Meet

India shone at Technovation Girls – an annual competition hosted by Technovation, a non-profit in the US – when a team of three girls Stella, Ishwarya and Akshara all between 10 and 14 years old bagged the first prize for developing the best app in the competition. They were mentored by Tanya Elizabeth Ken, a class XI student who herself was a finalist in the Technovation challenge in 2017. The girls won prize money of $12,000 for their app named Baton. According to the girls, the prize money will be used to develop the app further. Baton Baton is an app that provides a platform for social work initiatives of students or interns. It collaborates with NGOs, institutions and corporations and hands over incomplete social work initiatives from one intern to another. The girls explained that just as in a relay race, a baton is handed over from one athlete to another, their app passes on the social work initiatives started by a social worker to the next level and it continues till the social impact is attained. The All Girls Team The enthusiastic and smart girls Stella, Ishwarya and Akshara came together to form Team Social Relay which they said stands for equality and inclusiveness. While Ishwarya and  Stella stay in a home for destitute children run by NGO Paadhai, Akshara studies in class sixth. The judges were very impressed by the Baton app and said that it was very well thought out with a sophisticated workflow that exceeded well beyond their expectations.