Press release
From Asheville School
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (April 18, 2013) When Asheville School recently launched the Asheville School App for the iPhone and iPad, people instantly wanted to know what firm the school had hired to create its new app. In Asheville School’s case, there was no outside firm, but two faculty members who decided to tackle the project together — Technology Coordinator Charles Long and Communications Director Bob Williams. To view the free app on the App Store, visit www.ashevilleschool.org/app.
Most private schools or universities who have an app on the App Store usually spend thousands of dollars hiring outside firms to create an app for them. In Asheville School’s case, the app creation process from code to design to final product was created entirely by Williams and Long and written entirely in Apple’s native Objective C language.
“After a lot of hours developing this app, Charles and I are very excited to see the app available on the App Store,” said Bob Williams, Director of Communications. “I’m not sure I know of any other private school or university that has designed an app without hiring outside help. We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish and we hope Asheville School students, parents, and prospective families will enjoy using the new app.”
Charles Long, the school’s Technology Coordinator, who has a background in computer science, partnered with Williams on the project and says he’s thrilled with the result.“Our app’s only been on the App Store for less than three days, and we’ve already noticed a great response with more than 130 users from more than 10 states and three countries,” Long said.
The purpose of the app was not only to spread the word about Asheville School’s thriving co-ed boarding school community, but Williams and Long set out to design an app that parents and alumni would enjoy using. They designed the app for the iPad originally, because they wanted to take advantage of the iPad’s large Retina screen.
“We really wanted to capture the full Asheville School experience with this app,” Williams said. “We wanted parents, prospective families, and our own students to have a reason to install this app on their own devices. We started the app with the virtual tour in mind, but we wanted this app to be used by a lot of people, and so we designed it so that everyone who has a connection to Asheville School will want to use it.”
A nationally acclaimed co-ed college preparatory boarding and day school, Asheville School enrolls approximately 275 students from across the country and overseas. Recent graduates are attending Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell, Caltech, UCLA, UNC-Chapel Hill, Davidson, NC State, University of Virginia, Emory, Duke, and Wake Forest, among others.
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