Students Create School Safety App
Students in Mitchell County, Minn. have developed an anonymous reporting app.
- By Sydny Shepard
- October 08, 2018
Students in Mitchell County, Minn. are tired of seeing school violence in the headlines. Working together, the students are using technology to keep their school safe by encouraging the early reporting of possible threats.
The students being the Mitchell County Threat Report app presented the application to hundreds of area students last week, just ahead of its launch in the Apple App Store.
"The idea came from last year's students, mot of them have graduated and moved on in their lives and we kind of took over the project because we though this should come to completion," St. Ansger High School student Christian Eckard, said. Eckard handled some of the back-end development for the app.
The application solution is something that the Mitchell County Sheriff, Greg Beaver, has long thought about.
"After Parkland, I was thinking to myself, 'There has got to be a better way.' Young people don't want to pick up 911 and talk to a dispatcher," Beaver said.
The students set the application up so that the reports can be made anonymous and through text.
"This way, you just type it like you're texting your friend or something but you're sending it to the proper authorities," Osage High School senior Alex Swenson said.
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.