Students’ bowed heads fill the hallway as their eyes are glued to their phones. Whether it is the Home Access Center app or the Inklings app, they owe it all to one person.
Dylan Diamond ’17, the app-creator extraordinaire, has continued to produce useful apps for Staples students. He has created the MyHAC app, which allows students to easily view their current grades, grade point averages and the details in each class for all four quarters. He has also recently created the Inklings News application.
“I first started making apps in seventh grade when I got my first iPhone,” Diamond said. “Before then, I had just done programming on the web. But after I had this new device, I started to explore what I could do with it in a creative way.”
Diamond created his first production application in the eighth grade for a science project. The application is called MyMoonPhase, which is a simple application that allows students to view the current moon phase with a detailed description and photos for each. “I don’t really care about that app. It was just for a project,” Diamond said. “We got an A+, so that was nice.”
Lately, however, Diamond has pursued creating applications that are beneficial for all of the Staples community. Whether it is the MyHAC application or the Inklings News application, Diamond has continued to surprise Staples with how useful his apps are. “I love the MyHAC app,” Ari Teicher ’15 said. “It is easy to use and very helpful.”
His latest creation, the Inklings News application, has provided a new, efficient news source for Staples students. “The Inklings app is really easy to use,” Dacotah Keating-Byrne ’16 said. “It is a great way to get the most recent news around Staples.” The app features article categories on the left side, allowing users to toggle the stories by section.
It took three weeks to make, but the Inklings app had over 115 downloads after one day. “The app is really great,” James Lewis ’16 said. “It runs very fast.”
Creating applications, however, is not as easy as it seems. “There are a lot of frustrating times throughout the app making process when you get stuck on a problem,” Diamond said. “But eventually, I will resolve it.” Diamond learned how to create applications mainly on the internet. If he ever found himself stuck on a problem, he would “just keep sticking with it” until he was able to create something.
Keeping this same “stick with it” mindset, Diamond hopes to have a career like the one he has created in high school. “I hope to pursue a creative path with technology, specifically app design or programming” Diamond said.
Diamond will continue to surprise Staples with new and useful applications throughout his years in high school.
“It is gratifying to make something that can easily reach thousands of people through their devices,” Diamond said.
