Drexel Ngo and Alina Ramos created an app that students can use to immediately notify family and emergency services of an active shooter with the push of a button.
The app, RED-11, made it to the final five and won honorable mention at this year's Congressional App Challenge Award ceremony hosted by Rep Judy Chu, D-Pasadena.
The app honors the 11 victims of the mass shooting in Monterey Park, as well as brings awareness to the California Red Flag Law, which allows stakeholders to seek a gun violence restraining order against a person suspected of being a danger to themselves or others.
"Since kindergarten, we've always been taught what to do in case of a lockdown or in case of an intruder coming into school," 14-year-old Ramos said. "So just seeing this happen, so close to us, it was somewhat scary but also sad that when we hear stories of shooting we are almost immune to it. Now you just think of it as another story and that's bad that it's come to that point."
For the students, the need for the technology was heightened after the Star Ballroom Dance Studio tragedy on Jan. 21, 2023.
A RED-11 user need only to press the red "alert" button to send a message and current location to everyone listed in their contacts. The app's server then transmits the data out so that the user need only focus on finding a safe place away from the active intruder.
"This is a top-of-mind concern for our students and young people in the city," said Councilmember Thomas Wong, "We pine for the days where we worried about what was for lunch and not whether we would be safe at a school and how to make sure we are safe if something like that happens."
Ngo and Ramos both hope to use programming in their future careers to serve people in times of need. At just 5 years old, Ngo struggled to find a space to learn coding, so his mother decided to start her own organization in Monterey Park called Let's Code, Inc.
"I absolutely see this as a career," said Ngo, now 13, reflecting on life after his time at Brightwood, which is in the Alhambra Unified School District. "I want to become a software engineer in order to make a difference, and hopefully change the world."
The Congressional App Challenge is a competition to encourage middle and high school students to code and inspire them to pursue careers in STEM. This competition is open to all students who either study or live in the 28th Congressional District.
According to Chu's office, submissions came from young coders who worked together to fix any of the many problems facing their communities. This is the Ngo and Ramo's second year in the top five.
"STEM is becoming more and more valuable for our nation's youth because the powerful skills gained from coding and programming will ensure that our nation remains at the forefront of progress and technological advancements," said Chu. "Even though these coders are only in middle school, I am amazed with their resilience and perseverance after such a terrible tragedy. We were very impressed with their motivation, superb presentation and agree that there is a real need for an app like this."
Despite financial and software hurtles the team faced during the app development process, they said they pushed to complete the process ahead of the one year anniversary of the Monterey park Shooting. Ngo added that as the app came together, he felt "less helpless to the violence and more secure" knowing that it was a tool he and others could use.
"They didn't give up and persevered, rebuilt the database and completed a project, said Phach Ngo, Drexel's father. "So we were very proud of them."
Echoing Wong, Alina's mother, Reyna, said it's a bittersweet pride and added that she couldn't fathom the threat of gun violence as a child.
"When I was growing up, it was just fire drills and earthquake drills — it was never lock downs," Reyna said. "It is sad that our kids have to have these type of problems. We're very proud of them that they're able to understand the problem and to a certain extent help create a solution."
While Monterey Park's mass shooting was one of the first in the country this year, it was far from the last. According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 41 total mass shootings in the United States this year and over 40,000 people have lost their lives to various gun violence.
They added that while there are still bugs to work out before the app is ready for launch, once that is complete they hope to make it available for free on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
"It is so great that we are able to create an app that saves people lives," Ngo added. "With the recognition from the mayor and our congresswoman, we hope that we can push this app and get people downloading."
©2023 San Gabriel Valley Tribune, West Covina, Calif. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
