By Riddima Pandey, Staff Reporter
The new Conestoga Scheduling Assistant on Clever is an app that allows students to plan out their academic schedule for future years. The app helps students ensure that they are not overscheduling or under scheduling themselves. It includes course descriptions as well to help students easily find courses that may be of interest.
Counselor Brian Samson came up with the idea as Conestga will implement a new school schedule next year. He wanted to create something that would help students pick courses that fit into the new schedule.
“I think with the fact that we’re no longer having a six-day cycle next year, (it) just makes sense to have a different tool to help students conceptualize their schedules,” Samson said.
After developing the idea, Samson wanted to make it a reality. He asked computer science and app development teacher Edward Sharick to code the app.
“I pitched the idea, and (Sharick) just seemed pretty enthusiastic about it and willing to help me with this project. Once I saw that he was enthusiastic about it, he really took the ball and ran with it,” Samson said.
Sharick coded the Conestoga Scheduling Assistant using multiple languages, including JavaScript, HTML and CSS. The project took him between 10 and 15 hours to code over the course of a week and a half.
Daniel Davis, a senior in Sharick’s app development class helped test the app and believes it will be helpful and make scheduling easier.
“This new tool is just very useful because it helps make this once-complex process a little bit easier,” Davis said. “Because it’s tough having to look through a 50-page book, find the courses you want, finding which courses are required for your grade level — this kind of takes some of that stress off.”
Gavin Huang, a junior in Sharick’s app development class, also helped test the app before Sharick released it. He found a couple of minor errors and helped resolve them.
“I believe there was a problem with Multivariable Calculus. It wasn’t listed for 12th grade. (There were) other problems like that where the classes weren’t appearing. I just looked through it and tried to help them,” Huang said.
For Davis, exploring the real-world applications of coding shaped his outlook on the potential of app development and technology.
“Seeing his project helping to solve a real problem has been inspiring,” Davis said. “He (Sharick) is making something that’s schoolwide, that affects everyone and is really cool.”
Riddima Pandey can be reached at [email protected].
