Brush with Melanoma Sparks Apple Scholarship

For 16-year-old Dallas resident, Mason Dierkes, an early encounter with skin cancer left a lasting impression. Mason lost his grandfather to melanoma when he was very young. After learning of the high survival rate when treated early, he was left wondering if that death could have been prevented.

With a bit of coding skill and a lot of ingenuity, Mason developed an app to educate people on the dangers of skin cancer. The app, called Skin Cancers, offers information on how skin cancer progresses. It even features a simulation that shows how skin cancer can spread over time.

The app was so good that Apple took notice. They awarded Mason a WWDC scholarship for his work. That scholarship includes membership in the Apple Developer Program and other tools for app building.

The Skin Cancers app is available for free download on Github.