Facebook is dying. Out of 49 freshmen surveyed, 59 percent of them stated that they never check Facebook –most of them don’t even have an account.

However, out of 43 upperclassmen surveyed, about 84 percent have the Facebook app on their phone; however, many reported using it as a way to “kill time.”

The senior class Facebook page, though, is used quite frequently; someone usually posts at least once per week. Posts regard senior related information and events, club/class surveys, and more. Nevertheless, this differs greatly from other grades.

“We do have a sophomore class page, but it is only really utilized during homecoming,” said Kaitlyn Brennan (10).

While other apps can compensate for most features of Facebook, some of its key aspects, such as event planning, cannot really be replaced with current apps.

This phenomenon, along with mine and Aakash Setty’s (12) interest in volunteering, inspired our Genius Hour project.

Google gives its employees 20% of the work week to devote to projects of their own liking, which has spurred creations like Gmail and Google News. This idea has been taken up by teachers nationwide; this includes VHHS’ very own Ms. Shona Moeller. Moeller has implemented this idea in the Junior Leadership program, in which students are given one day per week to work on a project as it relates to their passion– it just has to connect to leadership.

Setty and I noticed that along with the decline of Facebook, volunteering was, and is, as well. Years ago, volunteering was a graduation requirement at our school. However, that is no longer the case. National Honors Society is the only means for enforcing mandatory volunteer hours– which is ten per semester, by the way.

“As leaders of clubs at VHHS, we have noticed the need for a unifying voice to be heard and we knew right away that an app would solve this problem,” said Aakash Setty (12).
Creating an app would provide a centralized platform to promote community action by facilitating event coordination and creation.

On the app’s website, http://uniteapp.weebly.com, we listed our goals for the app, which include promoting integrity, improving communication and organization, and enhancing student leadership.

Moreover, this app seeks to strengthen communication and organization at schools, especially our own.

Most events are announced through the school bulletin and Facebook. Given the rapid decline of the social media site, we clearly cannot rely on it for event planning. Using the announcements as a medium of event planning is spotty as well; some teachers don’t read them regularly –or at all– and if a student is absent, he or she simply misses the event.

This system naturally leads to weak organization. Having all events on one platform, however, would make it easier for organizers to plan ahead– thereby increasing participation. Even better on the student end, this app would give them the opportunity to be connected to more opportunities.

As excited as Setty and I were about the app’s potential, we also grew apprehensive, as neither of us could code. Even worse for us, we only had about two and a half months to complete the project.

To try to circumvent the time restraint, Setty and I both collaborated and worked independently. While I researched and created the website, Setty created the storyboard for the app. In this context, storyboarding refers to a graphic organizer to show the sequence and general plan of the app.

“Using Google Slides, I created a linked slideshow where clicking on a part of the phone screen on the presentation would link the appropriate following slide to appear on the screen, simulating a click. This is a technique that professional companies often use to present application design,” said Setty.

My research consisted of comparing and contrasting professional app development to that of amateur app development. Professional app developers need a coding team, a great deal of money to invest in the project, and an account with Apple. We lacked all of these things.

However, we did not lack a (not-so) amateur coder at our own school: Anmol Parande (11).

I interviewed him about his experience with the three apps he’s already created to get a better idea of the differences between professional and amateur app development.

“The main difference about the development process of my apps and a professional’s is the amount of work that went into it. I probably didn’t take as many developmental steps,” said Parande.

For someone who makes apps on his own time, though, his work is still very impressive. No matter the level of expertise, planning for the app is essential.

“Utilizing Google Slides is basically the first step, putting it on a storyboard,” said Parande. “While the powerpoint doesn’t include the specific coding, it has a logical flow and details the design. It has the overall feel and look, so it’s a really great idea.”

When it came time to prepare for our presentation, Setty and I wanted to give off a TED talk kind of vibe; we wanted it to be professional, engaging, and seamless.

Moeller was so impressed with our presentation that she invited us to speak at two events later in the semester. In March, Setty and I were the first students from VHHS to speak at the DuPage County Institute Conference for Health and Physical Education, where we presented to gym teachers. In May, we spoke at District 128’s Leadership Advisory Council and spoke with local business
owners and community leaders.

These conferences revitalized our project.

“Hearing our vision validated at our various presentations reconfirmed why we started this project in the first place,” said Setty. “A team is only as strong as its volition and these conferences helped us realize the proximity of our vision to reality.”

At the end of our junior year, Setty and I met with Moeller and Mr. Ben Aucutt to discuss how UNITE could be implemented at our school. Because the IT department at the school has a limited budget, it was up to Setty and me to find coders to develop the app for us.

Thankfully, my initial contact with Parande, along with Setty’s friendship with him, allowed for us to reach out to him first.

“I wanted to join in on the project because I saw a lot of potential in it. As part of the JSA Exec board, I could definitely see the effects of freshmen not having Facebook accounts, and there is a huge market in an app to help plan events,” said Parande.

One coder was certainly not enough, though, so we invited Neel Choudhary (11) to join our team as well.

“I thought that this idea was really cool and innovative, and even though I have a pretty busy schedule with AP classes and ACT Prep, I was still willing to put time aside on weekends to work on this app, said Choudhary. “In addition, it provided me an opportunity to contribute to my school.”

Choudhary and Parande essentially divvied up the coding for Android and iOS software, respectively.

“As the web developer as well, I programmed the server we use to host some of the app functionality from as well as the iOS app itself. I have also helped design how the app will look when it is released,” said Parande.

Though both Choudhary and Parande have published several apps each, the two did have some challenges while working on UNITE.

“It took several attempts to come up with a common user interface that we all agreed on,” said Choudhary. “Besides that, the only other challenge was connecting to the server which stored all the clubs and user information. I spent quite a few days just to get that to work.”

The two made a great deal of progress over the summer; however, they have spent a great deal of their already busy junior years working on UNITE to get it to its beta phase.
Staying true to our storyboard, UNITE allows students and club advisors to create events and their own profiles. Other apps –such as Maps, Mail, and Phone– are consolidated in one place in order to provide convenience and control, all at one’s fingertips.

In your “profile,” you can upload a profile picture, include a bio about yourself, and be contacted via e-mail and phone.

Though not located on your “profile,” there is a tab specifically for the individual user called “my clubs.” Here, all the clubs that you join through the app are located in one place. From there, you can click on the club, where all “upcoming events” are listed.

Much like the school bulletin, the “stream” feature of UNITE is where all upcoming events are listed. When clicking on an event from the “stream,” you can view all of the details about the event, which include contacting the organizer via phone or e-mail, viewing its location via maps and viewing the profile of its coordinator.

Finally, the “upcoming events” feature includes a list of all of the events you have signed up for. Information can be accessed from here as well. Once you have signed up for an event, it will disappear from the “stream.”

While Setty and I originally envisioned giving any student the ability to create an event, we realized that many problems –technological and otherwise– could arise. However, students that have leadership positions will have the ability to create events. In order to do so, Parande created an admin interface to create events. This will apply to club leaders and teachers as well.
UNITE will be tested in its beta stage to clubs that the team is heavily involved in; Anmol is on exec board for JSA, Aakash is the president of FMPA, and I am on exec board for VIP.
Parande has already introduced it to JSA’s exec board this month to ensure that the interface can function with multiple users on it.

“We’ll start utilizing it in our clubs by using it for our regular meetings,” said Parande. “From there, we can expand to other clubs and possibly to school-wide events.”

If the rollout is successful at our school, we hope to contact local schools to implement UNITE there. Setty has been in contact with business leaders who will help the team monetize the app if that occurs.

“With the potential to permanently shift our mentality to a more community-minded dogma, we hope UNITE can stand true to its name and bring our student body together to better ourselves and those around us,” said Setty.