Apt senior adept at making apps




Sengupta

Sengupta

Calabasas High School senior Sanath Sengupta, 17, is trying to make the most of his last year in high school. He’s already achieved a near-perfect score on the SATs and is a founding member of the school’s model United Nations. He’s also building an iPhone app.

“Essentially it’s a revamped reminders app. It’s kind of a combination of reminders and calendar on an iPhone,” Sanath said. “It’s really meant to make it much more efficient, to merge those two functions. I saw there was a need for that. The reminders app and the calendar app right now are separate, but I think they can be combined, and that’s what I’m aiming to do.”

When he was in middle school, Sanath taught himself Java coding using videos on Youtube. He initially wanted to learn so he could modify code in the video game Minecraft. After he mastered the basics, he earned money by writing code to add features to the game on multiplayer servers and selling it to the servers’ owners.

In high school he took an AP computer science course to understand Java better and then taught himself Swift, Apple’s computing language, so he could start making apps. His first foray into the app-market is not a for-profit venture, though.

“This one’s probably going to be free. It’s just something that I’m exploring. But if I do decide to go ahead with more ideas, I can definitely see ways where I can make some money off it,” Sanath said. “I don’t know anyone else my age, at least in my high school or my friends, who are doing app development or anything like it. (Maybe) other areas of computer science, program or software development, but not apps.”

Sanath was a member of CHS’ tennis team his first three years of high school but stopped playing this year so he could focus on academics, like Model UN. He was one of the founding board members of the club in his sophomore year, despite having no idea what Model UN was.

“One (of the founders) had done (it through) a summer program,” Sanath said. “That’s definitely been a big part of my high school experience. We’ve only been around for two years, but we were ranked as one of the top 50 teams in North America. There are schools that have had (clubs) since the 1960s. My grandfather participated in Model UN in the 1940s.”

He’ll be involved with the club through the rest of the year, but right now he’s focused on submitting his college applications.

When he took the Preliminary SAT in his junior year, Sanath scored 1490 out of 1520. The test doubles as a qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship Program, and Sanath’s score was high enough to get him ranked as a semifinalist. He has to submit an application and an essay to be in the running to become one of the finalists, which will be announced in April 2019.

Several scholarships are available to Sanath if his application is approved, but even if he doesn’t become a finalist, he’d like to still get some financial help.

Sanath is applying to several schools, among them USC and several East Coast Ivy League schools.

He said he’s interested in going to law school but also plans to delve into the computer sciences, and he may pursue a career in app development.