BY JUSTIN FORD
Ever wonder how you can meet and connect with fellow students on campus? Well, there’s an app for that.
No, it’s not Tinder. It’s called Campusgrids. It’s an app created by students, for students. It allows students to engage with their classmates and connect with other students on campus. The free app was originally released earlier in the year in Ottawa, but is now ready for launch across schools in Canada.
“You always want to meet other students,” said Campusgrids’ chief operating officer, Tedy Tadi. “You can join the volleyball group, or just connect students together and break the ice.”
Campusgrids isn’t your common school app. It doesn’t just show bland calendars and timetables, and it does more than simply inform students of upcoming events. Once a student downloads the app, it connects them with students from their campus who have similar courses, interests and hobbies.
The creator and chief executive officer of Campusgrids, Elias Fares, hatched the idea back in 2012. He was tired of sifting through college calendars and Facebook feeds to find out what was going on around his campus, so the Carleton University graduate came up with an app to connect students with similar interests.
In a Sept. 3 article in Cascade, the student-run newspaper at the University of the Fraser Valley, Fares said, “Campusgrids is more of a social app. There is more interaction between the students.”
It’s Campusgrids’ goal to provide a social platform that is user-friendly and free. The app offers every student unlimited access to the application’s services.
Another feature within Campusgrids is its ability to sync up students in the same program. Once a student adds his or her classes to the app, other students on the app with the same classes can link together, and even hold virtual class discussions.
The app can be found easily in the App Store and the Google Play Store. Simply type in “Campusgrids,” then download it for free. Conestoga College students who download the app will be instantly connected.
“People always want people around them,” Tadi said. “We’re trying to make them get to know each other through the app and build relationships with groups of friends.”
What is Journalism?