When using this very ECHO app, you might think: "Who made this wonderful piece of software?"

Well, wonder no more, for all your questions about app designer senior Aaron Kovacs will be answered momentarily.

Aaron's interest in creating software applications (apps) has its roots in a fun hobby.

"I used to make a lot of mods for games. Mods are changes to the game that make it more fun using what’s built into the game."

The first iPhone/iPad application Aaron created didn’t even necessarily have to do with the school or education at all, though it was made for a teacher.

"The first app [I developed and made available] on the [Apple] App Store was Penalty Box, an app for [district tech director] Mr. Shay. He watches a lot of hockey and he needed to calculate when a player leaves the penalty box. He asked me for that in the tenth grade, that was the first time he asked me to make something," he recalled.

According to Aaron, the ECHO app was created in much of the same way, albeit over a longer timeframe. In fact, the ECHO app didn’t even start as a newspaper app at all.

"Mr. Shay told me to make an app so during a fire drill students could tap a button to say 'I’m okay.’"

However, Aaron wanted the app to be more than just a single button. After some deliberation, he settled on a new concept.

"It was going to be like the morning announcements, like, 'Practice on Tuesday' or 'Sign this form,' stuff like that. ECHO Sponsor Mr. Kissick really liked the idea, and so we changed the entire app to just be about the ECHO. Once I showed it to Mr. Shay, the app was made in a month."

Due to the limited audience of the ECHO, the app hasn’t attracted much attention to Aaron or his work outside of our district. In fact, his most popular app in the App Store is the one he cares the least about.

"It’s like a Jeopardy kind of thing where people connect their phones to buzz in to answer questions. It has far exceeded my expectations, it has 70,000 downloads right now."

Despite being released just a few weeks ago, Aaron already has plans for the future of the ECHO app and his own career.

"I’m going to release as many features [for the ECHO app] as I can before I graduate. I’ve applied to three schools for computer science. Unless I change my mind, that’ll be my work."

With everything pointing towards Aaron's career developing apps, perhaps we'll see one of his creations on the top charts of the App Store.