Lasting Confidence and Connections: Alumni Voices from Denbigh High School

Students at Denbigh High School have been taking part in Apps for Good courses for over 10 years. In July 2025, we visited the school to catch up with students who took part in Year 7 and are now in Years 8-10, and heard how the course had shaped not only their skills but also their relationships, confidence, and future aspirations. Year 10 students Ruqayyah and Mariam were part of the team that created ‘Electro Saver’, an app to help children decrease electricity usage. For them, an important lasting impact of the course has been the relationships they built. Mariam said, “ I was interested in making an app for the environment and [my teammate] had the same viewpoints as me, and it was really nice.”

Standout moments from the programme included opportunities for public speaking and engagement with industry professionals. Year 9 student Azzahra (from ‘Seaweedia’, an app that raises awareness of the environmental importance of seaweed,) vividly remembers the powerful experience of being interviewed by BNY, a global financial services company. “It felt so good to be recognized by a big company… it was mind-blowing,” she said, highlighting how these real-world encounters built her confidence.

Students described the ripple effects of the essential skills they’d developed during the course. Mariam, who once struggled with speaking up, described how Apps for Good transformed her ability to communicate. “I was seen as very quiet, I was not used to speaking out. Every time I talked, my voice would be a little shaky and I’d get really nervous. When I had to present the idea of Electro Saver to the judges I had to use these skills of talking on the spot and selling an idea”. She credits her Apps for Good experience for helping her navigate similar situations since.

Ibrahim said that the teamwork skills he’d developed through creating ‘Bamboozle Me’, an app encouraging people to use bamboo as a more eco-friendly material, have come in useful across his other subjects. “I use those teamwork skills now in my science projects, or any projects where we have to have to work in teams. I'm much better at expressing my ideas and listening to others.”

The programme also influenced the students’ future choices about what to study and other extra-curricular activities. For Mariam, the creative aspects of the course inspired her to choose Art as a GCSE, despite some of her peers discouraging her. “I can choose what makes me happy because [the course] gave me confidence.” Azzahra’s experience of Apps for Good helped her take on new challenges outside of school; volunteering at a summer school felt less intimidating because she had already pushed herself during the course.

These experiences from Denbigh shine a light on the lasting impacts of Apps for Good courses, which extend far beyond the classroom.