Mendota students win national competition for their app combating the fentanyl crisis

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Four Mendota Junior High Students are taking action to combat the fentanyl crisis.

They created an app that connects people in their community to resources and information - all available right at their fingertips.

Jimmy Fuentes, Anthony Trinidad, Jonathan Alfaro and Gerardo Portillo make up the Mendota Junior High School MESA Team.

MESA stands for math, engineering, science and achievement.

The four are on summer break now but are still soaking in some major recognition for their work.

During the spring semester, the 8th graders created and designed an app called "FentaKNOW".

"We researched around the symptoms, the dangers, the antidote and where you can get it. We went around to the health center and asked if they had it," Portillo said.

The four spent countless hours after school gathering information about Fentanyl, teaching themselves how to code, and putting it all in one place for the community to easily access.

"Here we have the four areas you can go, you can go to where you can get help."

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It features information in English and Spanish about the dangers of fentanyl, symptoms of an overdose and local resources available.

There's a button to call 911 directly and a special section reminding people not to let their immigration status stop them from getting help.

Then, they entered the National MESA Championship.

Carlos Tamayo is the Mendota MESA team coach.

He says the competition emphasizes a human-centered design.

"Not only does this have to be part of an engineering competition, it also has to help the community," Tamayo said.

The team went on to win their preliminary round in Fresno, regionals in the Bay Area, the state competition in San Diego and then, they headed to the national competition in New Mexico.

There, they flourished, taking home 1st place overall for the MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition and ultimately beating out 25,000 other students for the top spot.

Their app is now distributed through QR codes around Mendota.

Coach Tamayo says this win is well deserved and is going to inspire the next MESA team because all four of the boys are headed into high school in the fall.

"This is obviously something students are going to look up to in the future and the community can feel proud of these boys and what they've accomplished," Tamayo said.

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