Here’s how Verizon inspired an 11-year-old girl to create an app to give her mom peace of mind.
Verizon Innovative Learning empowered Chloe Gibson with the skills and confidence to develop the app.
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Two years ago, Chloe Gibson of Berea, KY, shared the pain of her mom, who was devastated she couldn’t stay in the hospital with Chloe’s prematurely newborn brother. That’s when a Verizon Innovative Learning program for rural girls empowered Chloe to create an app to give her mom peace of mind.
Oh, and Chloe was just 11 at the time.
“My little brother, Liam, he was born at 28 weeks,” Chloe said. “He was a pound and 13 ounces. During that time, I would come home and I would watch my mother cry, just not having him with her.”
Back then, Chloe was learning STEM skills at a Verizon Innovative Learning camp for rural girls at Big Sandy Technical Community College in Prestonsburg, KY.
“When I was at Verizon’s camp, they told us to think of a project and story that is important to us, using design thinking. So, I immediately thought of Liam, and how I wanted to help other families not have to go through that.”
Chloe developed The Liam Project, an app for her mom to see live footage of her baby in a neonatal intensive care unit all times.
Chloe’s mom, Mary Lewis, couldn’t help but be moved by her daughter’s gesture.
“When she told me this, I was just blown away,” Mary said. “I was just very humbled, and I’m so proud of her, that she would want to take something that happened to us and make it better for others.”
Liam’s now a happy and healthy 2-year-old. And Chloe, now 13, is continuing to develop the app to help give future parents and caregivers peace of mind.
“For 24 hours a day, there will be a camera with the incubator, and you can see stats and milestones at all times,” she said. “There will also be direct messaging for nurses, so it kind of alleviates the stresses of not knowing how your baby’s doing at that time.”
Chloe credits Verizon Innovative Learning — part of Verizon’s larger Citizen Verizon responsible-business initiative to move the world forward through economic, environmental and social advancement — for empowering her to move the world forward.
“The Verizon Innovative Learning camp really empowered me also because it was all girls, so I appreciated watching them all kind of share their own stories and struggles they had been through, and making a project out of it — thinking of ways they can solve these issues that many people go through every day.”
