Recenly the Iowa caucus, the first test of electability for many of the presidential candidates, was held.  Like many voters, we at Second Avenue are thinking about the 2016 election and following it closely.  Here are some of the questions we found ourselves asking:  How did two states, Iowa and New Hampshire, come to dominate the early discourse in the presidential primary? How has the selection of presidential candidates evolved over time? Is this process partially responsible for the increasingly bitter partisan divide? How have parties evolved and how has the geographical landscape of party affiliations changed along with them? How, as a parent or educator can you have this conversation in a constructive, non-partisan way in a classroom or in your family room? Lots of questions, so we rolled up our sleeves and decided to answer them with input from middle school and high school teachers and expert insight from Professors Ferber and Sutton from the Rochester Institute of Technology Political Science Department. 

On a recent Saturday morning, local participants were invited to the Student Innovation Center at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where Representative Louise Slaughter introduced this year’s Annual Congressional App Challenge. In its second year, the App Challenge invites high school students across the nation to submit their designs for original mobile and computer applications.   As representatives from the industry, Second Avenue Learning presented on the importance of diversity in product teams and end-user requirements gathering and testing. Faculty from the University of Rochester discussed game design, the Strong National Museum provided information on game history, and a member of local game studio, Workinman, explained important factors in game development. All of these issues are of critical importance for app development.