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Press Release: White House Launch of College Safety Mobile App

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Medora Heilbron Student Contributor, Princeton
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Kathryn Gray Student Contributor, Princeton
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Ajibike Lapite Student Contributor, Princeton
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Princeton chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

OnWatch ™ app combats Campus Violence and Sexual Assault
Los Angeles (April 27, 2012) – OnWatch™, the award-winning personal protection safety app and winner of the Obama Administration’s Apps Against Abuse Technology Challenge, launched last week at the White House.

Vice President Biden said, “Thanks to the creativity and vision of these developers, young women and men now have a new line of defense against violence.”   Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women added, “Thank you to OnWatch™.  The results far exceeded our expectation.”

Jill Campbell, Chairman of the Board of WatchMe 911, Inc., a Los Angeles-based mobile app development company, said, “I am deeply grateful to the Vice President  and the Obama Administration for continuing to make this cultural epidemic a national priority. The statistic that 1 in 5 young women will be a victim of sexual assault while in college is unacceptable.”

Campbell noted that the increase of reported and non-reported assaults and crimes on college campuses are part of the data that college bound students and their parents consider when they are choosing a university to attend.  “I am proud that OnWatch™ will help so many young women and men”, she remarked, and continued, “and I am grateful to the Universities and student organizations that are helping to get this app into the hands of their students”. 

Campbell, a 67-year-old mother and grandmother whose primary business is her successful financial advisory firm in Los Angeles, is a complete anomaly in the young, male-dominated world of technology and apps.  She acknowledged, “I do stick out among all these young men. But trying to be a part of the solution for this issue is not about your age or your gender”. 

The OnWatch™ app has 6 safety modes, all with GPS location-aware functionality.  With just 2 taps, users are connected to their preselected friends, 911 and their campus police. The app is available for download through the iTunes App Store. An Android version will be available later this year.

A full description of the app and its features can be found at www.OnWatchOnCampus.com.

Ajibike Lapite is a member of Princeton University’s Class of 2014. When not studying, Ajibike tutors at the Young Scholar’s Institute in Trenton, NJ; serves as the President  of the Princeton Premedical Society; is the Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus Princeton; currently holds the title of Most Stylish Undergraduate (from Stylitics). Ajibike is a  molecular biology major with a certificate in global health & policy. She enjoys consumption of vanilla ice cream and sweet tea, watching games of criquet, exploring libraries, lusting after Blair Waldorf’s wardrobe, watching far too much television, editing her novel, staying watch at the mailbox, playing tennis and golf in imitation of the pros, hanging out with the best friends she’s ever had, baking cookies that aren’t always awesome, being Novak Djokovic’s fan girl, and sleeping—whenever and wherever she can.