Last Tuesday (12 August), Year 12 Kaiapoi High School student, Ben Lawrence, was invited to be a guest speaker at the Apple Future Skills Summit in Christchurch.
In front of an audience of school principals, industry leaders, and Apple’s education team, Ben was interviewed about his international success with his app GoodCents. This innovative app, designed to help people develop vital money management skills, has earned Ben global recognition – he was named one of the winners of the 2025 Apple Swift Student Challenge, one of only two students from Aotearoa to receive this honour.
Although he admitted to feeling “very nervous,” Ben spoke with clarity and passion about the realities of designing an app to meet such an important need. He shared the resilience he built through challenges he described as “beyond frustrating” and the perseverance required to resist the “temptation to give up and try again next year.”
That determination has paid off. Ben’s name is now known among the right people to help him move forward in the app development world, opening doors for his next big steps. As part of his success, he also spent a full day in Sydney with the other Swift Student Challenge winners from across Australasia – 12 from Australia and just 2 from New Zealand. The day was filled with opportunities to connect with fellow winners, meet leading figures in the iOS development industry, and take part in valuable learning sessions. Ben described it as “inspiring to see all the other winners, their wonderful creations, and their enthusiasm,” and said the experience has helped to cement the career path he is determined to follow.
At last week’s summit, true to his humble nature, Ben was quick to credit the strong coding foundation he gained in primary school. His comment that “primary school teachers play a huge part” has already led to invitations for him to speak at local schools – inspiring younger students by showing what can be achieved with the right mix of skill, perseverance, and a valuable, meaningful goal.
You can read more about Ben’s journey in this TVNZ article (https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/05/29/two-kiwi-students-shine-in-apples-global-coding-competition/)
We encourage our community to support Ben by downloading GoodCents, trying it out, and giving it the five-star rating it truly deserves.
We are incredibly proud of Ben and look forward to seeing the amazing things he will create in the future.
