A Great Valley High School graduate and her partner have made the Forbes’ “30 Under 30” Education List for their new app that encourages students to get good grades.
Logan Cohen, 25, a 2008 graduate who played basketball at Great Valley, was in a number of clubs and remains active in the school’s foundation, is co-founder of KUDZOO.
She and Trevor Wilkins, 26, officially launched the smartphone app that rewards students for good grades last year in an effort to leverage high mobile phone usage among millennials to give them an extra push inside the classroom. The app currently has close to 500,000 active student users.
“Trevor and I are honored to be recognized by Forbes alongside such a talented group of young rising stars,” Cohen said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to push students to do better in the classroom through innovation and technology.”
Wilkins added: “It is in large part thanks to our incredible student users that we have been afforded the opportunity to join such an illustrious group of visionaries on the ’30 Under 30′ list. Motivating students to excel inside the classroom is our mission and we are excited to have the support of the business, education and technology communities as we continue to grow.”
Students can download KUDZOO for free on the Apple App and Google Play Stores. It is for students in the seventh grade through graduate school, Cohen said in a phone interview from her Manhattan offices.
Cohen said she and Wilkins came up with the idea and developed the app in the basement of her parents’ East Whiteland house when they saw data that indicated teens look at their smart phones 200 times a day.
“We said, ‘why not be proactive about it?’ ” Cohen said of viewing the phone as an educational asset instead of an enemy in the process.
Rewards can be something as simple as a gift card or coupon for a free soda with a slice of pizza at a participating vendor. Some are discounts at popular retailers while others are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, including internships, a one-on-one session with a Wall Street trader or the opportunity to meet a favorite athlete.
Cohen and Wilkins have raised $1.3 million from high net worth individuals and $75,000 from Princeton University, making them the first to receive funding through the university’s new entrepreneurial fund. The company has three employees and hopes to continue growing.
Cohen holds dual degrees in Finance, which she receive with Beta Alpha Psi honors, and International Business as well as a certificate in International Bank Management from Florida International University.
She said was fortunate to grow up in Chester County.
“I think Chester County is a wonderful melting pot of people with different backgrounds,” Cohen said.
In basketball, Cohen described herself as a good three-point shooter who played for the Patriots’ varsity team from her sophomore through senior years. After being named all-county in her sophomore year, her basketball career was cut short when she tore her ACL in her senior year.
“Growing up in Great Valley it was always exciting to check the Daily Local to see if myself or my basketball team was featured from the game the night before,” Cohen recalled.
Today, Cohen is an active member in the NYC tech community, where she has led live demonstrations at NY Tech Meet-up and Silicon Harlem events. She was recently named a fellow of Camelback Ventures – a select group of entrepreneurs from across the nation recognized for its societal impact.
Cohen also sits on the board of the Foundation at Great Valley, the nonprofit that funds all assemblies and alumni events. She has spent several semesters leading a high-school level course on entrepreneurship at Science Leadership Academy in West Philadelphia that focuses on equipping students with the tools and skills needed to start a business.
– To contact staff writer Brian McCullough, call 610-235-2655 or send an email to bmccullough@21st-centurymedia.com.
