Our previous event Appfluence was an intra-college hands-on training event which was completely funded by our college. Hence all the preparations went smoothly and on the final day we were running all over the place attending to the novice attendees. However, Appwars was very different. This was an inter-college design sprint and android app development hackathon where the participants didn’t have to deposit any kind of registration fee and the winners were promised cash prizes and certificates and a chance to upload their apps to Google Playstore.
Our GSA, Meghna, wanted to make this event a huge success. We collaborated with Mohonish and Soham, the GSAs of Academy of Technology and Jadavpur University on this one. We all had our own visions as to how to make the event triumphant. However to convert our fantasies into reality we needed funds. Unfortunately the college was unable to extend much help financially but our director promised to support us in any other way needed. Being a very reserved person, I have never imagined having to approach strangers for money! However watching Meghna and Nishant convincing companies to be our sponsors, and negotiating with them on the sponsorship amount, was absolutely mesmerizing and was a wonderful learning experience. The days leading to our event were packed with various preparations like designing posters, flyers, certificates and getting them printed, collecting money from the sponsors, sketching out the event schedule, promoting the event and many more, followed by reaching home late at night to the rebukes of our guardians. On the final day we were busy decorating the rooms till the participants started arriving. Till the very last moment even though we were well prepared it felt like minute but important details were escaping our minds.
We finally began our event on March 21st with ten very enthusiastic teams with students from colleges across the state and beyond. After the short incipient introduction Mohonish conducted the design thinking session. The participants were expected to develop apps that would have a positive impact on present society. Every team came up with brilliant innovative ideas. The GSAs personally attended to every single team occasionally suggesting ideas to improve their apps. This was the first time any of us have been a part of such a unique design thinking session. This was followed by the lunch break. Having worked hard all morning, every participant was delighted on being treated to personal pizzas and coke from Dominos. After lunch, they went back to working on their apps with rejuvenated zeal. Koushik Sir from Google Developers Group, Kolkata, and our very own Rajarshee mentored the participants and steered them in the right direction whenever they got stuck. The contestants continued with their work the next day too. By lunch time all of them had successfully completed building working prototypes of their apps. Sukumar Sir, the teacher coordinator of Phoenix, our official tech club and Koushik Sir had a tough time judging those apps and finally declared the names of the three winning teams.
The winning teams were rewarded with cash prizes and certificates and were guided to upload their apps on Google Playstore. Every student agreed that the overall experience although exhausting was very enjoyable, informative and knowledgeable. In the end we were satisfied that all our hard work had paid off and that every participant felt like a winner having been a part of the very first inter-college design sprint and android app development hackathon of West Bengal. We are proud to be the trend setter for the future of android app development. The GSA program has truly touched numerous lives giving a learning platform to true enthusiasts.
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