Canadian grad’s elder care app wins Apple’s Swift Student Challenge, earns Tim Cook’s praise

Apple’s Swift Student Challenge is an annual program that tasks student developers around the world with creating and showcasing a prototype application built on Apple’s Swift Playground app. This year, a Canadian student was one of the distinguished winners who was invited to visit Apple Park in California to present their app to Apple CEO Tim Cook himself.

The annual challenge is open to all students aged 13 and above, though they need to be enrolled in one of the following: an accredited academic institution, a STEM organization’s educational curriculum, or Apple’s Developer Academy. From the global pool, Apple selects 350 winners, each receiving a one-year membership to Apple’s paid Developer Program, a voucher to take an ‘App Development with Swift‘ certification exam, and a special gift from Apple.

50 distinguished winners out of 350 get a chance to visit Apple Park, and Elena Galluzzo, a recent graduate of Wilfrid Laurier University, was recognized for her app ‘Care Capsule,’ and even got a stamp of approval from Cook himself.

Galluzzo shares her home in the GTA with her parents, a sister, and her maternal grandparents. Her personal experiences motivated her to create Care Capsule. The app, which is an all-in-one assistant, is specifically designed for elderly people. According to Galuzzo, her grandmother is in the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, and that has taken a mental toll on her grandfather.

“It’s also hard on my grandfather because it can be quite lonely — even though he lives with his children and grandchildren,” she said, before adding that a large population of Canadian elders have no one to depend on. “Canada has an aging population, so I think it’s really important to keep looking into ways we can help people in this field, and coding is one way I can contribute.”

Galuzzo’s app uses Apple’s Create ML, a tool to train machine learning models. With the help of the tool, Galuzzo designed a chatbot that can analyze user interactions to detect loneliness or depression. Additionally, it can track medication, help connect with community resources, and keep a record of positive memories, essentially helping combat depression and loneliness for Canadian elders.

Cook was impressed with Care Capsule, going as far as saying that “Elena’s app has the potential to improve the lives of older adults all across Canada, and her creativity and commitment to community are extraordinary. We can’t wait to see what she does next.”

After gaining experience and exposure at WWDC 2024, Galuzzo intends to work towards publishing Care Capsule on the App Store.

You can learn more about Apple’s Swift Student Challenge and some of the other distinguished winners here.

Image credit: Apple

Source: Apple