StudentPAL

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  StudentPAL demo

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  Figma wireframe

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  Qoom code

Inspiration

As high school students, we drew heavily on our own experiences with navigating the transition into adulthood. Our mandatory career and life management classes were well-intentioned, but the scope of their relevance was diminished by their compressed timeline and lack of engaging and mindful content. Despite being bombarded with helpful information, we felt unprepared to apply what we had learned to the real world, realizing that there must be a more effective way to acquire the tools needed to clearly visualize and prepare to succeed in the future. We envisioned a centralized platform to answer our swirling questions and fill in our knowledge gaps — one that would address the most essential aspects of our lives, from academics and career options, to lifestyle and personal wellness.

Our Process

Using the Qoom IDE, the four of us were able to successfully create a website. We used HTML for the front-end external skeleton of our site, Javascript to create our back-end logic and algorithms, and CSS for the overall design. The design of the website and each of its tabs was planned out using Figma.

Challenges

Our group of beginner high school coders had limited experience in HTML and were unfamiliar with CSS and JavaScript. While we had a slow start, we worked steadily and delegated specific tasks to each member. Many of us had experience in Java and C++, however, those languages mainly deal with problem solving or back-end challenges, not web development. For one of us, this switch from a mid-level programming language, to high-level, dynamic languages like JavaScript and HTML was especially challenging.

What we learned

Most of us had strong knowledge in programming, but minimal experience in the application of it to create a website. We learned how effective teamwork and collaboration can be when we taught each other different skills and languages (HTML, CSS, and Javascript) to successfully create StudentPAL.

What's next for StudentPAL

Going forward, we are aiming to further maximize StudentPAL’s accessibility by providing its features in both a convenient website and app. The specific sections could also be refined and expanded. For example, we are interested in incorporating student-oriented support for financial practicality, particularly regarding taxes, budgeting, buying/renting a house, and insurance. We would also like to develop our own bullet journaling feature, and revise the academic quiz to suggest even more targeted programs based on grades and interests.

Ultimately, the next steps for StudentPAL will serve to increase its positive social impact on youth from all around the world. Empowering the world’s future changemakers will require us to not only acknowledge our universal struggles, but also deliver personalized support with empathy.

Thank you

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all the organizers and judges at Superposition Toronto for putting in countless hours to make this event possible. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to compete in this hackathon and hope to see more of this soon!

Built With

• css
• figma
• html
• javascript
• qoom