Wis. high school students develop app to track school spirit

October 29, 2015 / Athletic Administration
Three seniors at Menomonee High School (Wis.) have created an app designed to support school spirit, which could be beneficial to athletic directors trying to track attendance at games.

The 'Fanorak' app might be a good way for ADs to track attendance at sporting events.
The ‘Fanorak’ app might be a good way for ADs to track attendance at sporting events.

Connor Schmidt, Jonathan Grey and Matt Milos spent 10 months creating the iOS and Android app, named “Fanorak,” according to an article from Menomonee Falls NOW. Athletic Director Ryan Anderson challenged the trio to create the product, hoping it would help boost attendance to some school events.

From Menomonee Falls NOW:

“In general, I’m always looking for ways to encourage students to come to these kinds of events,” said Anderson, who based his challenge on an app he’s aware of that is used at colleges. “Obviously, we can’t spend the money to pay for a fancy app, so I turned to our students to create something that would not only track attendance, but hopefully spark a sense of school spirit as they support their classmates.”

The app allows users to log in at school-sponsored activities and collect points for their attendance, Anderson explained.

“When a user is checking in at an event, the app uses the phone’s GPS coordinates to verify that the student is within range to prevent cheating,” Schmidt mentioned.

In addition to providing a list of upcoming school events, complete with times and locations, the app allows users to keep track of scores on a “leader board,” which tracks how the students are scoring in comparison to their peers.

This sounds like a great, inexpensive idea for schools trying to boost attendance to games. The article mentions “rewards” for students but doesn’t specify exactly what that means. Schools could certainly offer spirit wear — sweatshirts, T-shirts, hats — to those who accumulate the most points.

Click here to read the complete article. For more information about the app, click this link.


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