Team Spotlight: Class with Friends
February 21st, 2014 | Published in Google Student Blog
In last month’s first AdMob Student App Challenge design jam at Virginia Tech, the winning team came up with a new way to choose classes both around major and the classes that friends are taking. The Class with Friends app has a clear purpose, and was well-thought out and addressed the many issues that an app such as this is presented with. Come and meet the team:
Benjamin Zichettello: Majoring in Aerospace Engineering, Ben is also working on a tech start-up called ProjectAMPLE in addition to his studies. ProjectAMPLE’s goal is to develop innovative knowledge management applications to help organize the vast amount of information in the modern era. With Class with Friends, he’s hoping to mitigate the boring and problematic registration process at most schools.
Chris Lai: Chris is somewhat of a hackathon veteran, having participated in events at University of Michigan and Yale. Chris has also been involved with an Austin start-up as a front-end developer, and has been passionate about computer science since high school. He’s looking forward to continuing to refine his developing skills through this contest, as well as learning how to best integrate AdMob into their app.
Xikai Zhao: While currently studying mechanical engineering, Xikai has always wanted to build a website or app, and thought this contest presented a good opportunity to refine both skills and learn more about building an app business. At a large school like Virginia Tech, registering for classes can be a painful ordeal, hence the idea for the app. In the app, students will know who else is taking the same class with them, adding a social layer for when they make their semester choices.
Craig Borklund: Craig has been thinking about creating a way to connect with potential classmates outside the normal social outlets, and had actually experimented with an app registration solution. Currently studying Computer Science and German, Craig mentioned that the design jam was instrumental in them utilizing a web visualization app to better represent what they were going for, and to show in a clear way what separated their idea from their other apps out there. By doing that, it also allowed the group to have a visual of where their ads would best be placed to ensure a solid user experience.
Remember, all participating teams will need to submit their app by 31 March 2014. Follow AdMob on G+ to stay up to date with all Challenge updates.
Benjamin Zichettello: Majoring in Aerospace Engineering, Ben is also working on a tech start-up called ProjectAMPLE in addition to his studies. ProjectAMPLE’s goal is to develop innovative knowledge management applications to help organize the vast amount of information in the modern era. With Class with Friends, he’s hoping to mitigate the boring and problematic registration process at most schools.
Chris Lai: Chris is somewhat of a hackathon veteran, having participated in events at University of Michigan and Yale. Chris has also been involved with an Austin start-up as a front-end developer, and has been passionate about computer science since high school. He’s looking forward to continuing to refine his developing skills through this contest, as well as learning how to best integrate AdMob into their app.
Remember, all participating teams will need to submit their app by 31 March 2014. Follow AdMob on G+ to stay up to date with all Challenge updates.