Local teens develop Grindstone app to expand job opportunities for high school students

Two local high school seniors, Evan Ajuria (pictured left) and Aiden Appleby, have rolled out the latest version of the Grindstone app to expand job opportunities for students.

“The gig economy is here,” said Evan, who developed a first version of the app when he was a sophomore, “but students are not a part of it. Maybe a student is passionate about film making. We want to link that student with someone in their neighborhood who is looking for a film maker.”

Adds Aiden: “It’s the huge thing NextDoor has missed out on. We want to empower students to find work and expand their job opportunities.”

Evan and Aiden believe that student talents are under valued. “Our whole team is students,” says Evan. “Our focus is on bridging the gap and building connections with a goal of having 2,000 users—students and adults—by  the end of March.”

Evan attends Carlmont High School and Atherton resident Aiden Appleby attends Design Tech, which was brought to his attention by one of his teachers at Hillview Middle School.

“I got into coding quite early,” Aiden says. “I knew that I wanted to go to a really good tech school.”

Why the name Grindstone? “I was looking for a catchy name,” says Evan. “Grindstone signifies working really hard—and students are hard workers.”

Students and adults are invited to try Grindstone for free.