STATE COLLEGE — When you first meet young Lachlan Myers, your thoughts are likely to focus on his clean-cut, Norman Rockwell-like appearance. But, don’t be fooled. Behind those square glasses lies the heart of a thoroughly modern citizen.
When he was 10 years old, Lachlan had an idea. He wanted to create an application for the iPhone that kids could use to create their own personally designed weather forecasts.
“Weather means a lot to people,” he said. “I thought it would be cool if you could do your own live forecast.” He and his friend Noah Kaplan set out to develop the application.
The developers at AccuWeather — the company founded by his father, Joel Myers — were too busy to help the young team. So it would have to be outsourced. And it was.
“It’s a fairly sophisticated app,” Lachlan said. “It uses all the Accuweather tools, which all come together in real time.”
This includes video that is constantly updated, providing current weather conditions in current locations.
“The program will automatically write a short script. It is only available for Apple platforms, though plans are being made to work on Android compatibility.
“It’s free. I just was interested in it because it’s cool,” said Lachlan.
Besides creating “cool” applications, Lachlan is a collector of sneakers. He buys them in bulk and flips them by selling them. He buys limited editions that are in demand.
“My love for sneakers got me into it,” he said. “For example, I bought the Weatherman sneaker by Kevin Durant (of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder). I contacted Kevin Durant about creating an Accuweather Weatherman sneaker. I was invited to meet him and watch a game.
“I had him do a shoutout to Mount Nittany Middle School.”
