A Poway High School teacher spent thousands of dollars of his own money to make Advanced Placement exams easier for teenagers.
Curt Lewis is an A.P. U.S. History teacher. He is also the inventor of the new educational app High5wizard, which allows the user to prepare for difficult AP exams using a smartphone app.
“I was going like, ‘OK, what if we had an app that’s on your phone and would help prepare you for the AP exams?' ": Lewis recalled asking his students. " 'Would you like that?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah.' ".
With help from his students and an engineer in 2019, Lewis created High5wizard.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
The app has been downloaded nearly 7,000 times. Lewis, who hopes to triple that number in 2023, said the app uses quizzes and games to coach students through a variety of subjects, including English, U.S. history, government & politics, psychology, world history and statistics.
The longtime teacher and Iraq War veteran said he spent more than $70,000 of his own money on High5wizard's development. However, he hasn't charged a dime to any student. He said he wants to make sure he can help students who may be struggling financially or are on the path to being the first in their family to attend college.
Local
“Those are the kids we really want to rise up that need our extra help,” Lewis said with a smile. “What I really love about it is seeing the passion that the kids bring in, where we’re talking about different things and they’re learning.”
