This College Student's Practical App Just Won Apple's Annual Competition. CEO Tim Cook Commends Her Innovation and Says She 'Demonstrates What's Possible.'
Amanda Breen
created: June 11, 2025, 4:30 p.m. | updated: June 12, 2025, 3:59 p.m.
"Growing up in LA, I've always been aware of the wildfire risks that come with living in Southern California," Marina Lee, a 21-year-old computer science student at the University of Southern California, tells Entrepreneur.
CEO Tim Cook and Marina Lee.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Marina LeeIt took Lee about one month to develop the app and submit it to Apple's Swift Student Challenge, a competition that invites students across the globe to enter their original app playgrounds built with Apple's Swift coding language.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Marina Lee"I definitely look forward to meeting other Swift Student Challenge winners [at WWDC]."
Related: This 17-Year-Old High School Student Has a $20,000-a-Month Side Hustle — and It All Started With a Skill He Learned in Class"I definitely look forward to meeting other Swift Student Challenge winners [at WWDC] and other developers in general from across the world," Lee says.
4 months, 4 weeks ago: Entrepreneur