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Westwood Horizon

The student news site of Westwood High School.

Westwood Horizon

The student news site of Westwood High School.

Westwood Horizon

Student Creates App for Latino Community

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Danny Lang ’16

Danny Lang ‘16 had a very busy but successful summer. He attended the Junior Summer Program held by the National Hispanic Institute called the Lorenzo de Zavala Youth Legislative Session.

Lang first joined this organization in his freshman year after receiving a letter. At first, he was skeptical about it, but after a few weekly meetings, he began to like the idea and started to create friendships that last to this day. Lang has participated in the program for three years now, and in those years, he says he met some of the most amazing people.

“I got to see all my friends from the past programs. That was fun because we we formed a really close bond, we’re like a family, and it was great to be reunited with everyone,” Lang said.

In this junior year program, each team creates a mock government and the head positions are elected. Lang was selected by his teammates to the executive branch as a cabinet member. The government helped establish roles in the creation of their project for the competition. The objective of the competition was to come with the best product that would enhance the Latino community.

Eighteen teams from different regions of Texas travelled to Dallas where they worked collaboratively within their “governments” to create their product and then presented in front of hundreds of people.

“This entire experience really helped me to break out of my shell. Now, I’m involved in theatre and am so comfortable addressing a large group of people. I’ve been able to assess strengths and weaknesses in communication and work on those to become a self improved individual.” Lang said.

Lang’s group created an app called Intertwine. The purpose of Intertwine is to bring Latino people together as a cohesive whole and build on their already known sense of unity. The app would allow people to post project ideas and collaborate with people all over the world. People would be able to build off one another in order to improve their own designs. There is also a program within the app that helps you to create your own profile so that you can find people close to you with similar areas of interest.

Lang and his team worked weekly and devoted four hours of their weekend until competition to work on the project. Their hard worked paid off when they found out they placed first in this national level of competition.

“We all looked at each other and it was dead silent for a few seconds, and then we just went crazy,” Lang said. “It was awesome because we’d been working so hard, taking suggestions from so many people, and working together to create this project. We looked at each other, screamed, and started crying. It was a crazy experience.”

The team went up against collegiate world series and great debate (freshman and senior programs) and there too, they were able to come out on top. And if that wasn’t enough, Lang was also nominated at the competition for most promising male.

This has been such a big part of Lang’s life that he really doesn’t want to let it go.

“I enjoyed the experience so much that I returned back as a staff member and now I am the social media executive of the National Hispanic Institute and I coach the freshman for mock trials,” Lang said. “It has made that much impact on my life that I came back.”

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About the Contributor
Shefali Arimilli, Managing Editor
Hey! My name is Shefali Arimilli and I am the Managing Editor of the Heritage. This is my third  year on staff and fourth year in journalism (jerds are amazing!). I’ve been on varsity tennis for four years now, and love it. If I’m not studying or playing tennis, I’m hanging out with friends and family, listening to music, dancing, or eating. My favorite movies are Pitch Perfect and The Blind Side. I love traveling and hope to go to Australia and New Zealand this year!

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