## Inspiration

We are four Mexican CS students who are getting access to private higher education thanks to an incredible scholarship. But the reality of more than half of all the young adults in our country is quite different. Some by decision, but most due to socio -economical inequities, have never registered for higher studies or have had to quit. The gap is still enormous! What is the difference between us and them? Exactly. Just a lucky good opportunity, in the right moment. But wait, we, as technologists, have many tools in hand. What if we try to connect sponsors and people eager to learn and work? What if we construct a platform where everyone have the right tools to manage those opportunities by themselves in a country (and world) where education needs to be democratized more than ever before?

## What it does

es **tu** o is the short expression for the sentence *es tu oportunidad* , that in Spanish means *this is your opportunity* . Our web app collects data, divided into three main categories: scholarships, university calls and prep courses for potential new students. Data is then prepared to be shown to our targets by using some cards.
Our targets interact with our app by registering and signing up, to have access to a dashboard which helps them to keep an eye on their times and starred cards. As we have two main targets (high school and university students), we included some extra conditions to offer each one a different experience when using the app that fits best their needs.

## How we built it

The client-side of our app was built, organized and stylized using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The server-side was made using PHP. The database that powers it was designed and implemented in MySQL. The little exception to this lies on the authentication for each user, which is powered by the Firebase and Google APIs.

## Challenges we ran into

As beginners in the world of hackathons and CS, we faced a lot of problems related to the lack of knowledge or practice on using some tools. For example, the use of frameworks to power webapps and stylize them. Additionally, we took a long time in doing research about the way in which we may connect a database designed and implemented in MySQL and the one provided by Firebase Auth. Lastly, we were extremely worried about the deployment of our work!

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We feel extremely happy with the work done in just 36 hours. Keeping stuck with each other even when we felt tired or hungry. Keeping also the animosity level up, as we firmly believe in the usefulness and great potential our project has, the benefits for others. We learned how to use a big amount of unknown tools, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, APIs management, Adobe XD and Git in quite a few time to turn our idea into a reality in a short but extraordinary sprint!

## What we learned

Every good product is based in a great deal of effort. We learned that even though 36 hours is definitely not the sufficient time to make perfect things, it is perfect to get to know your team, to come with more solutions than expected, and learn collaboratively. But the greatest acquisition is, maybe, that each one of us had an incredible amount of talent and capability to add to the team and our baby project!

## What's next for estuo

Since the moment we came up with this idea, we had it clear: we were really into this project. Not just for an amazing hackathon. We hope to learn a lot more in the future to continue improving this platform, adding it some additional ideas that we had but couldn't implement, such as web crawlers that can help us quite a lot in adding info to the data bases.
## Inspiration

During this Covid-19 pandemic, our team has noticed the high demand in essentials such as face masks and the importance of lending a hand to those in most need. When people come together as a whole great things happen. What better way than to create an application to connect eager volunteers with organizations that are providing aid to those being impacted by COVID.

## What it does

Our application is simple and easy to use. Once a user signs up as a volunteer, they will fill out a survey, get matched to organizations, then have the option to schedule volunteer sessions. The sign in form has some check boxes for users to select from. This will allow us to have a better idea of what type of skills they have to match them with an organization. Such opportunities users can select from are joining an organization to make face masks, volunteering to pick up groceries for the elderly, donate food to a local food bank, and more!

## How I built it

We built this application using the React web framework, Bootstrap css framework, HTML, CSS, and for back-end we plan to integrate SQL for maintaining the database. To make our application scalable, we plan to push it to AWS in the future. This will help us develop a scalable cloud-based application with built in AWS features that can help deploy things efficiently with great user experience.

## Challenges I ran into

It is not easy to work virtually for some or work with different time-zones. Our team has been impacted by this as well. Additionally, finding a team was also a challenge, as well as having members drop due to personal or educational purposes. Nonetheless, we are still very passionate about our idea and plan to invest more time into this project. With more given time, our team would be able to finalize this idea and connect people for good causes.

## Accomplishments that I'm proud of

We are proud of working through the barriers we have faced over the course of this hackathon. As well as creating a prototype of our idea, we visualized an application that can help save lives!

## What I learned

Our team learned about REACT and how to use Git commands to push code to GitHub. It is a very important skill when developing web applications. Together, we coded live so that we can view the REACT environment, the apps components and how to create files. We learned that it is not easy to work virtually however, it is feasible with a team that shares a passion to helping the community.

## What's next for COVAID

AWESOMENESS and IMPACT. COVAID is not over yet, with more time we plan to make complete this application in REACT, move it to AWS, scale to application to other nations including Canada, Europe, Central America, South America, Asia, and many more parts of the world. Connecting people to helping those in need during this pandemic is our mission and with time, dedication, effort, focus, and determination we will get there. Thank you!
## Inspiration

The transition from high school to university is indeed a challenging phase wherein a student not only navigates through the curriculum but at the same time he/she/they are figuring out who they are as individuals, their passion etc. For students coming from culturally diverse backgrounds, things become even more challenging. There are many school factors that affect the success of culturally diverse students the school's atmosphere and overall attitudes toward diversity, involvement of the community, and culturally responsive curriculum, to name a few.
To help those coming from culturally diverse backgrounds and help the transition process be a smooth and easy one, we bring to you Multicultural Matrix, a platform celebrating cultural diversity and providing a safe space with tools and equipment to help students sail through the college smoothly making the max use of opportunities out there.

## What it does

The platform provides tools and resources required for students to navigate through the university.
The platform focuses on three main aspects-
1)Accommodation
Many students look for nearby affordable accommodations due to personal and financial constraints wherein the accomodations welcome diversity and different communities. To help with that the accommodation section plans to help students find accomodations that matches their requirements.
2) Legal Documentations
Handling paperwork can be difficult for international students coming from across the globe and the whole documentation process gets 10x more complicated. The website also caters to handling paperwork by providing all the resources and information on one platform so that the student doesn't have to hop here and there looking for help and guidance.
3) Food and Culture
Adjusting to a new University and a new place can be very challenging as you're thrown completely outside of your comfort zone and it's often that you crave the familiarity and comfort of your community, culture and food. To help students find "Home Away From Home" we have also added a food section that shows the cheapest and best-rated restaurants nearby your location based on the cuisine and food you are craving.

## How we built it

The front end was built using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
We also used Twilio, BotDoc, Auth0 and Coil.

## Challenges we ran into

The CSS adjustment and integration of the tools and tech with the website was a bit challenging but we were able to find our way through the challenges as a team

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

Working together as a team and coming up with a solution that solves real-world problems is something we're proud of at the same time celebrating diversity.

## What we learned

We learned how to use parallax scrolling on the website and learned how to work with Twilio, BotDoc etc.

## What's next for Multicultural Matrix

We do plan on making the different aspects of the website functional and using the MERN stack to implement the backend. We also plan on providing resources such as internship opportunities and scholarships for students coming from culturally diverse backgrounds.

## Domain:

Domain.com: multicultural-matrix.tech