Inspiration
The inspiration for CrestComms came from a shared frustration as our school, like many others, required students to complete a certain number of volunteer hours to graduate. However, finding opportunities that are local and nearby proved to be a difficult challenge. Our best efforts to scour community bulletin boards and websites, we often had to search through many results to find opportunities only to see that they have been closed. We decided that we can create a common platform to centralize all of this into a singular platform. Determined to bridge this gap, we set out to create CrestComms – a digital solution that not only streamlines the process of finding volunteer opportunities but also fosters a sense of community engagement among students.
What it does
CrestComms is a digital platform designed to simplify the process of finding and participating in volunteer opportunities for students. Posts are layed out on a map where you can browse through local events and opportunities. As you scroll through, you can interact with posts by commenting and marking them as interested, to let the poster know that you are going to attend. With this, the poster can notify everyone who are interested to participate via email.
How we built it
We built CrestComms using Flask for the backend framework, SQLAlchemy for database management, JavaScript for frontend interactivity, and the Google Maps API for mapping functionality. So all the account, posting, and interaction functionality is handled with Flask and stored using SQLAlchemy. The interface uses the Google Maps API as a way to lay out each post on a map with coordinates of the location.
Challenges we ran into
It was very difficult to implement the Google Maps API, as at first, we couldn't figure out the code that actually put the map on the website, and also we thought you had to pay to use the API. Luckily, we were able to figure that out in the first day, and were able to work out placing emojis on the map. Other than that, our only main issue was making a feature to "notify interested," as it would have to open the user's mailing app and email everyone interested.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we created a website that has the potential to connect communities internationally for a very short time. We're sure that we can continue working on CrestComms to have actual functionality and users in cities nationally.
What we learned
We have learnt to use the Google Maps API, which will be very useful in future projects, as well as SQL Alchemy, which was used as our database. SQL Alchemy is very useful as the database is built into the project, rather than having to connect online, which makes it easier to post and retrieve data.
What's next for CrestComms
Both of us are very keen on working on CrestComms, or a similar project, to make it into an actual used product. This includes adding new features to make it viable to the public. For example: implementing advanced event filtering options, and expanding the platform to support mobile devices through dedicated apps. We're committed to continuously improving CrestComms to better serve communities and foster meaningful connections among neighbors.
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