## Inspiration

While talking to Mitt from the CVS booth, he opened my eyes to a problem that I was previously unaware - counterfeits in the pharmaceutical industry. After a good amount of research, I learned that it was possible to make a solution during the hackathon. A friendly interface with a blockchain backend could track drugs immutably, and be able to track the item from factory to the consumer means safer prescription drugs for everyone.

## What it does

Using our app, users can scan the item, and use the provided passcode to make sure that item they have is legit. Using just the QR scanner on our app, it is very easy to verify the goods you bought, as well as the location the drugs were manufactured.

## How we built it

We started off wanting to ensure immutability for our users; after all, our whole platform is made for users to trust the items they scan. What came to our minds was using blockchain technology, which would allow us to ensure each and every item would remain immutable and publicly verifiable by any party. This way, users would know that the data we present is always true and legitimate. After building the blockchain technology with Node.js, we started working on the actual mobile platform. To create both iOS and Android versions simultaneously, we used AngularJS to create a shared codebase so we could easily adapt the app for both platforms. Although we didn't have any UI/UX experience, we tried to make the app as simple and user-friendly as possible. We incorporated Google Maps API to track and plot the location of where items are scanned to add that to our metadata and added native packages like QR code scanning and generation to make things easier for users to use. Although we weren't able to publish to the app stores, we tested our app using emulators to ensure all functionality worked as intended.

## Challenges we ran into

Our first challenge was learning how to build a blockchain ecosystem within a mobile app. Since the technology was somewhat foreign to us, we had to learn the in and outs of what "makes" a blockchain and how to ensure its immutability. After all, trust and security are our number one priorities and without them, our app was meaningless. In the end, we found a way to create this ecosystem and performed numerous unit tests to ensure it was up to industry standards. Another challenge we faced was getting the app to work in both iOS and Android environments. Since each platform had its set of "rules and standards", we had to make sure that our functions worked in both and that no errors were engendered from platform deviations.

## What's next for NativeChain

We hope to expand our target audience to secondhand commodities and the food industry. In today's society, markets such as eBay and Alibaba are flooded with counterfeit luxury goods such as clothing and apparel. When customers buy these goods from secondhand retailers on eBay, there's currently no way they can know for certain whether that item is legitimate as they claim; they solely rely on the seller's word. However, we hope to disrupt this and allow customers to immediately view where the item was manufactured and if it truly is from Gucci, rather than a counterfeit market in China. Another industry we hope to expand to is foods. People care about where the food they eat comes from, whether it's kosher and organic and non-GMO. Although the FDA regulates this to a certain extent, this data isn't easily accessible by customers. We want to provide a transparent and easy way to users to view the food they are eating by showing them data like where the honey was produced, where the cows were grown, and when their fruits were picked. Outbreaks such as the Chipotle Ecoli incident can be pinpointed as they can view where the incident started and to warn customers to not eat food coming from that area.
*“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,”* Nelson
Mandela. While there are many factors that contribute to the cumulative disadvantages in equity within
our country, there is no more powerful method of empowerment than higher education. Completing a
2-year degree yields a 30% increase in earnings while completing a 4-year degree yields a 230% earnings
increase. Higher education in the U.S. has become more expensive and less accessible, a phenomenon
that has directly impacted underserved communities and need based students. Shockingly, research
shows that 70% of California's 2.1 million community college students will neither earn a two-year
associate degree nor transfer to a four-year school. Most of the students that make up this 70% failure
rate are represented by ethnic minorities, first generation college students, and those from lower
income households. This is not an uncommon trend across the U.S. The uncensored truth is that, on a
shoestring budget, community colleges accommodate most of the underserved students in higher
education. Only 35% of Hispanic students will finish community college, 13% of which will go on to
attend a 4-year degree programs. 27% of African American students finish community college with only
9% pursuing 4-year degree program. In addition, U.S. Community colleges educate 67% of students who
come from household that earn less than $50k per year.

When a student begins their journey at a California Community College, they are met with
confusing websites, disjointed information, and outdated PDFs. Furthermore, counselors in California
Community Colleges are overburdened by the staggering faculty to student ratio, leaving many busy and
disadvantaged students with a ‘one size fits none’ educational curriculum. Of the minority of students
that complete community college, the average student takes 95 credit hours to complete an Associate’s
degree, 60% more than required.

*If community colleges are the number one workforce trainer in the United States, why are we failing our
underrepresented minority and financially challenged students?*

To promote academic inclusion and democratize higher education, our team created The
Counselor. It is important to understand that while full time education is a narrative for few, this is a
dream for many community college students who face more dynamic work-life-personal challenges. Our
product is focused on serving the pain points for community college student in the recruiting, retention,
and graduation/transfer process. Not only does The Counselor allow a student to map academic
requirements at any stage in their academic journey, but the curated experience allows them to identify
the best colleges based on their financial constraints and travel constraints. Using our platform, students
can optimize class schedule around employment considerations, and connect with friend or make new
ones with the allowing students to plan their end to end educational journey through community
college (even before they begin) The Counselor addresses one of the most critical challenges that
community colleges face. The Counselor increases transparency. By improving the planning process, we
reduce the risks associated with attending colleges will increase enrollment, retention, graduation, and
transfer rates among socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Design proved to be a key component of the product. We created The Counselor to serve
students who have budgeted time to dedicate to academics due to the burdens of life, but also
exercised significant consideration to ensure that our product is comprehensive and inclusive for all
students to plan their education. One such feature that embodies this consideration is the ‘Clik’ feature,
which allows a student to create their personal ‘Clik’ to track and connect with friends and others with
similar interests to share success journeys. In addition, The Counselor increases all student’s financial
capacity by helping them avoid wasted courses, and reducing the time spent to obtain a degree or
transfer to a 4 year university, empowering students to achieve their goals.

In order to maximize this product in the future, we must develop a more comprehensive
database with all transfer options for every community college across the U.S. In addition, to ensure we
are providing opportunity for all, these considerations must be extended to the international student
journey. We will expand our research and product market knowledge beyond the borders of the United
States to democratize affordable education globally.

The transparent access to resources and academic planning will benefit students, faculty, and
the California economy. The Counselor will unlock resources for need based and disadvantaged students
as well as students who are thriving in the community college ecosystem. The final demographic to
consider are students who are not able to afford consistent access to a computer or smartphone. While
these students may not have access to our product, our ability to automate the community counselor’s
job will ensure their schedules have more availability for these highly disadvantaged yet important
members of each class.

Finally, we would love to build transparent and user-friendly tools and features that will allow
students to apply for and streamline the fellowship process. In our development, we are careful not to
gamify the product, avoiding student oversaturation and attention issues related to The Counselor.
By providing a free and streamlined platform for community college students to map their
academic journey and build communities of success, we simplify the counselor to student engagement.
We believe that over the next year, our product can set the standard for student success planning as we
work to democratize education and eliminate achievement gaps. This innovation is critical to improving
student success in California community colleges and the long-term economic forecast for our country.
## Origins

Inspired by our own struggles of finding and buying cheap airfare, while maintaining reasonable constraints. Flights are still a hassle to find and purchase, even with tools such as Google Flights, Kayak, and Skiplagged. All travel apps use the same sets of input from users: destination, dates, and times. We've taken it a step further and catered flights to find your next trip by using a custom algorithm that analyzes your social media. Flights come paired with hotels as a package. Save more money by sharing the trip with your friends.

## What it does

Our custom algorithm analyzes your past behavior, your friends' trends, and what you're looking for, to provide you with only the best results. Forget about comparing a slew of numbers and words and focus on finding your next trip.

We've revamped the buying experience; share select trips with friends to let them know about great deals and future plans. Sharing a trip kickstarts an auction process - as the trip grows in popularity, the price decreases accordingly! MetBlue combines a ranked infinite scroll with interactive tickets.

It's a win-win for both the consumers and airlines: buyers receive discounts while airlines can fill flights on short notice. By increasing social proof and popularity, we fill empty seats at competitive prices.

## How I built it

We rely on MongoDB and Ruby to reference our data and provide your next trip. Our UI and UX heavily emphasizes a more minimalistic and fun experience over the commonplace arduous ticket hunting process. A combination of front end development tools creates a streamlined searching and check out flow.

## Challenges I ran into

Mapping and developing connections based on social data and individual search filters was a major hurdle to creating a smooth experience. Developing a high-speed infinite scrolling interface and integrating data to MetBlue's unique ticket system was also a major concern.

## Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Our design has come together very cohesively, and our search functions are efficient and quick.