The Spartan Shield: Pleasant Valley High School’s online and print newspaper. One student decided to add to the paper’s accessibility. This student, Jidong “Tom” Sun, is a PVHS senior who moved here from China in 2014. Today, Sun is a fluent English speaker and developer of the Spartan Shield’s brand new app.

1) What inspired you to make the app?

“I thought it would be cool to try and make the Shield mobile friendly. A lot of the time I
want to read articles and check updates but I have to go through a tedious multi-step process of browsing the web. I figured I could use my skills to make this process easier.”

2) What were your primary problems, if you had any, with developing the app?

“Sometimes, something vital would stop working and I’d have to go through all the code to figure out was wrong since lots of small things are controlled by lots of little bits of code. There was also a large part, something to do with how something is displayed, that I didn’t know how to do. Because of that I had to do research and learn how to [accomplish] it in a [high-quality] way.”

3) What is completed in development and what are you still working towards?

“The core features, like the sections and featured articles, are all done and working very well. I’m happy with how it has all turned out. Right now, I’m largely working on the cosmetics for the Android app to make it look as [appealing] as the website or paper does. The IOS app is very much still in development as it requires me to rewrite a large amount of the code.”

4) How available is the app and where can users get it?

“The app is available for a beta download on Android via a 3rd-party source and Apple users will have to wait as the app is still largely in development.”

5) Do you have any closing remarks for your potential downloaders?

“I hope that you’ll all be patient but critical so I can know what to update. Check for updates as I work to make the app on par with print and digital. Thank you for your time, everyone!”