Local app camp expands, teaches teens to code iPhone apps, games

Asheville School wants to help teenagers learn how to make apps this summer. The co-ed boarding and day school is offering a distinctive day camp in July that focuses on teaching kids how to write code, think critically, and make apps using Apple’s programming language – Swift.

Led by two experienced app developers, Technology Director Charles Long and Communications Director Bob Williams, Asheville School’s Summer App Development Camp will teach young people ages 13 to 18 all about how to code apps.

“It’s a great opportunity for any student who’s ever dreamed of making their own app to learn the process behind creating an app from scratch,” said Williams, who worked with Long to create Asheville School’s award-winning iPhone and iPad app.  “In 2015, during our inaugural year, we only had room for 15 students. This year, we decided to expand the camp to two weeks, hoping to teach up to 50 teenagers how to make apps like Instagram, Crossy Road and Geometry Dash.”

Teens may enroll in one or two weeks. Week One begins Monday, July 17 - Friday, July 21 and Week Two begins Monday, July 24 – Friday, July 28. The daily schedule each week is from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with lunch provided each day in the school’s dining hall. Those who register by June 1 will also receive an app development book and app camp T-shirt.

“This camp is one of the few app camps in the country that will truly teach kids the basics of computer programming and expose them to Apple’s iOS Development Kit,” Long said. “We’d love to one day look back and say we helped the next Steve Jobs, Marissa Mayer, or Bill Gates get started writing code.”

Williams and Long will be attending Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference this summer in San Jose, CA and hope to bring back even more exciting ideas for this year’s app camp. “We’re looking forward to learning new techniques from Apple’s own developers that we can pass on to our app camp attendees.”

Asheville School will provide an individual iMac computer or MacBook Air laptop for each camp attendee to use during the camp. Students will have the chance to explore the iPhone SDK and see their apps come to life on actual iPad Mini devices.

While some basic programming knowledge is encouraged, Long says even beginners will benefit from attending the camp.

“We teach Asheville School students about App Development, robotics and other software every afternoon, so we’re excited to teach more teenagers who are willing to roll up their sleeves and work on a fun app together.”

Register online by visiting ashevilleschool.org/appdevcamp. For questions about the camp, please email appdevcamp@ashevilleschool.org.

Asheville School is a nationally acclaimed co-ed, college preparatory boarding and day school for students in grades 9 through 12. The 289 students enrolled at Asheville School represent 20 states and 16 countries. Recent graduates have been accepted to Amherst, Columbia, Davidson, Duke, Elon, Emory, Furman, Georgetown, Harvard, NC State, Rhodes, Sewanee, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, William & Mary, WashU, Wofford, and Yale among others.