Rochester students develop app to help young people cope with mental health issues

A team of students from Rochester took home $2,500 Monday night at the 15th annual Minnesota Cup business startup competition. The annual event is hosted by the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. 

The group of five young women, all juniors at Century and Mayo high schools, finished third in the competition’s youth division.

For their project, they developed “DiscoverMe,” a mobile application designed for young people experiencing mental health issues.

[You can download the app on Google Play here.]

The app allows users to track their moods and sleep, offers soothing music and meditation sounds, and points them to local counseling resources.

The students, who go by the acronym Sh.A.U.C.K., initially coded the app for Minnesota’s Technovation “Appapalooza” meet, a competition for middle and high school girls that is part of a global program.

In recent years, Rochester students have done exceptionally well in these types of coding competitions. It was just one year ago when another team from Rochester Public Schools won the $10,000 Sunrise Banks prize of the Minnesota Cup. Their app, called “Bridge,” was designed to make it easier for immigrants to access banking and other financial support services.

Cover photo: Submitted