Students at Grover Cleveland High School's Academy of Information Technology are launching apps sharing Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative.

Jayson Portalatin is hard at work. He’s bringing his vision of using technology to make city streets safer to reality.

"It's actually very exciting to see that this app is going to be launched and that people are going to be able to use it," said Portalatin.

The Ridgewood resident is a senior at Grover Cleveland High School's Academy of Information Technology.
His classmates are getting ready to launch five apps geared towards bringing Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero initiative to smartphones.
Portalatin's app is called Street Tweets. It allows users to report dangerous intersections or traffic conditions through Twitter.

"Let's say there's a pothole within the ground. You can take a picture of that, connect it to your Twitter account and then tweet it to your City Council district member,” explained Portalatin. “Hopefully they'll see it and they'll take action."

Sonia Aguirre's app is called Try to Stay Safe. It's a game to help teach elementary school students how to cross the street safely.

"Kids also need to learn about safety at a young age in order for them to like develop," said Aguirre.

Andrew Woodbridge, an Academy of Information teacher, says the students worked with the city's Department of Transportation, as well as not-for-profit group Transportation Alternatives to gather the necessary information to launch the apps.

"It's really having them talk to the community and reach out and understand the community's needs and make them advocates," said Woodbridge.

Grover Cleveland High School's Academy of Information Technology is part of the National Academy Foundation network. It brings career themed programs to under-served high schools across the country.

"These academies really just connect the education and business world to transform the high school experience," said Caroline Mosley, a communications assistant for the National Academy Foundation.

The Grover Cleveland High School students already have more than 40 apps available in the Google Play App Store. The Vision Zero themed apps will be available for download next week.


For more information head to play.google.com and search "Grover Cleveland High School.”