Ridgefield Park, N.J. – July 6, 2015 – This summer, Samsung Electronics America (Samsung) will kick off its fourth annual Samsung Mobile App Academy, an app and coding program for rising 11th and 12th grade students. During the five-day Academy held in six cities, teens will build a functioning app and learn the necessary skills to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and careers through customized curriculum and interactive instruction.

More than 1,100 11th and 12th grade students across the nation submitted applications to participate in the Samsung Mobile App Academy program. Sixty students were selected for each of the six Academy locations, which will be held at top-ranked engineering universities beginning July 6. During each Academy, students will use the Samsung Galaxy Note™ 10.1 – 2014 Edition tablet to build, animate and market a fully-functioning app that addresses an issue in the area of health, education, environmental sustainability or community investment. Industry experts, Samsung engineers and university representatives will visit each Academy to offer mentorship and guide students in the app development process.

New to the Academy this year, students will continue to refine their coding skills with at-home online learning modules. App Academy Online will expand on the summer curriculum with a number of additional features students can apply to their apps. In the fall of 2015, students will submit their app concept to a panel of judges for a chance at one of five scholarships totaling more than $35,000. Winners will be announced in February of 2016.

With more than 8.5 million STEM-related jobs projected to be created in the U.S. by 2018, Samsung developed dynamic STEM-related programs that inspire, engage and prepare students for careers in these critical fields (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Since the inaugural Academy debut in 2012, Samsung has awarded $105,000 in college scholarships to winning students. Of the 600 Academy alumni, many are currently pursuing degrees in STEM-fields as a direct result of their Academy experiences.

After winning the grand prize scholarship in 2014 for his mobile app concept, MobiSense, Aditya Suri, a senior at George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Ga., was inspired to create STREM HQ, a science, technology, robotics, engineering and mathematics education company. Since its inception in March of 2015, he has educated more than 100 youth through an array of after school programs, clubs, workshops and camps offering experiential, project-based learning to explore and engage participants in STEM fields. Suri has also signed with several local public and private schools in the Atlanta metro to extend his programming platforms to their students.

Samsung Mobile App Academies will be held at the following locations:

July 6-10: Miami, University of Miami
July 13-17: Houston, Rice University
July 20-24: Boston, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
July 27-31: San Francisco, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley)
August 3-7: New Brunswick, N.J., Rutgers University
August 10-14: Baltimore/Washington, University of Maryland (College Park)

To further the Academy’s reach, teachers will also have the opportunity to integrate the program curriculum into their classroom through online standards-connected materials. Available in Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), the classroom resources provide teachers the essentials for instructing mobile app concept development and coding for students of all skill levels.

The Samsung Mobile App Academy is part of Samsung’s STEM education initiative called Solve for Tomorrow which aims to boost enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math among K-12 students. For more information about this and other Samsung Citizenship programs, please visit www.samsung.com/Citizenship.

For more information about the Samsung Mobile App Academies program, please visit www.scholastic.com/samsungacademy.

About Samsung Electronics America, Inc.

Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovation leader in consumer electronics design and technology. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA delivers a broad range of digital consumer electronics, mobile products and wearables, wireless infrastructure, IT and home appliance products. Samsung is the market leader for HDTVs in the U.S and one of America’s fastest growing home appliance brand. To discover more, please visit www.samsung.com. You can also Fan Samsung on www.facebook.com/SamsungUSA. or follow Samsung via Twitter@SamsungTweets.