PEARCY -- Five Lake Hamilton School District students recently competed in the Girls of Promise Tech for Good competition, with ninth-grader Sarah Humphries winning the event.
Ninth-grader Maddox Porter, 12th-grader Colleen Miller, 11th-grader Taylor Alred, and 10th-grader Abby Chuang were all finalists in the competition.
According to the Tech for Good website, the competition challenged sixth- through 12th-grade girls to team up and work together to develop an app, website, computer program, 3D printer template, or anything else "tech" they were inspired to create.
"The students were presented with the problem of food insecurity in Arkansas and worked to create technology to solve the problem," a school newsletter said.
Miller said she felt the experience was "cool" because tech is her hobby, and she got to use computer science to help people in the future.
"That was really a good feeling to know that you could help someone by doing something that you like," she said.
Porter said it was an "exciting" experience for her because she got to take her ideas even further.
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"I was really glad to compete in this competition because I especially liked the theme we had this year of solving hunger because that does help a lot of people. Especially with the pandemic," Humphries said.
Porter said the whole theme was to try to at least control hunger in Arkansas and they worked to create newer, more innovative ideas most individuals would not consider.
"It's important because with issues like this, everybody kind of knows what goes on, but if someone is experiencing it, they feel completely isolated," Miller said.
"Sometimes, they don't want to talk about it to other people. So if there's a project going on to try and bring positive help, it can help the negative stigma and bring awareness," she said.
Alred said the theme was important, especially with the pandemic, because families were without jobs, and it was a desperate time for individuals to find food.
Porter said she believes she and the others were selected as finalists because the most desired ideas are the ones that usually go to places that people wouldn't normally think of.
"I feel like if you just have that kind of passion about what you want to do, it will come across that way," Chuang said.
Miller's app was recipes sorted by price where the families would have a budget and a certain amount of money to spend.
"Sometimes when you go to the store, it can be kind of overwhelming," Miller said.
A way hunger in Arkansas or the world can end is by creating a positive community around people who struggle with it, she said.
"Seeing other people overcoming for those who are struggling currently can share tips and then there would not be such a negative stigma around it. If people would just come together and help each other," she said.
Humphries said her idea focused on the lack of transportation some people may have, noting, "My idea is that the food comes to the person."