As juniors and underclassmen begin to plan their class schedules for next school year, Cathedral Catholic High School is unveiling many new classes, one of which is an app design elective.

“Students will learn the basics of app building and then create their own, appropriate apps,” AP Computer Science teacher Mr. Kevin Hare said. “They will be able to download the apps they create onto their iPads and submit it to Apple if they choose to.”

Mr. Hare is one of the candidates to teach the app design course next year.

The course is currently in the process of receiving approval from the University of California. If the elective gains ‘UC approval,’ it will be acknowledged as a college preparatory course and included in the CCHS curriculum next year.

App design will be a year-long elective with no prerequisite. Any student is eligible to take the course regardless of prior experience with app development. The Apple software to be used, Xcode and Swift, will be fully introduced to participating students during the first semester. Interested students can discuss the course with their counselor.

“People spend all day on apps,” Calvin Raab ‘17 said, “so it’s best they learn how to make some themselves.”

During the course’s second semester, students will begin fully developing their unique apps. The student developers can choose to submit their apps to the Apple Store as paid or free apps to allow others to download it as well.

Given Cathedral’s relationship with Apple, app submission should be relatively easy. Apple has recognized CCHS as an ‘Apple Distinguished School’ since 2013. The only other private Southern California high school to share this title of academic excellence and innovation is Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, CA.

“The class is extremely relevant within Cathedral’s tech oriented atmosphere,” Nick Kim ‘16 said, “and now we’re taking charge of that.”