Two-hundred-thousand dollars to help change the world.
That what four 黑料社区 students are vying for as part of the fifth annual . In mid-November, their team called 淕ardenMate was notified by IBM that its solution to address a sustainability issue was a top five finalist among thousands of entries across the globe.
淚 got a call from Deepak who was like, 楥heck your email! Check your email! The first thing that I read was like, 楾hank you for applying Like, you know, they're saying, "Thank you, but unfortunately That's what I was expecting, but it said, 楥ongratulations, you are top five finalists of global. I cannot believe it!" said Abemelech Mesfin Belachew 24, of Ethiopia, who is a member of Team GardenMate. 淚檝e never been more excited.
This past summer, Belachew joined three of his AU peers, Deepak Krishnaa Govindarajan 25 and Prana Mohanty 25, of India, and Manusmriti Budhathoki 24, of Nepal, to brainstorm a solution for the challenge. Majoring in multiple fields, such as business administration, computer science & software engineering, data science, economics, finance and mathematics, the students brought a variety of different skills and perspectives to the table. They also leaned on Augustana Call for Code Faculty Representative Dr. Matthew Willard for advice.
淗e helped us keep up the momentum. He was the back support of our team, said Belachew.
Willard also presented the team with a problem that ultimately sparked its solution.
淭he idea had to be something transferable and applicable, so we went to Dr. Willard and he said the Augustana Garden has problems with having too much produce and can檛 find people to take it. Food waste has been a big problem,櫇 Belachew said. 淪o, we檙e like okay, we need a place where they can exchange the food, so we built up a marketplace.
Building an app with a marketplace complete with information about sustainability isn檛 as easy as Belachew makes it sound. The team put in a lot of work. Along with full-time jobs, they spent a lot of time together in Stavig Hall, working well into the morning hours.
淚 think you just have to do it because we had a lot of doubts. Starting out, it was very intimidating like, okay, how are we going to solve problems? We檙e just a bunch of kids in a dorm room trying to figure it out, Budhathoki. 淚 think anything possible you just have to find a way.
Now GardenMate is finding their way to New York, New York, where the winners will be announced live and in person at the 2022 Call for Code Awards on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
Along with the prize money, the top Global Challenge solution will 渞eceive implementation support from IBM and the Call for Code ecosystem to make a real impact in the communities with the greatest need.
淚t absolutely unreal that we got shortlisted, said Budhathoki. 淏ut, there still a lot of things that we want to do. We have a bunch of ideas, things we still want to implement.
Last year, Augustana students Onajite Taire 22 and Gedion Alemayehu 22 were a part of a team that was named a global finalist for the . AU also earned a 2021 Call for Code Engagement Award for exhibiting a deep commitment to Call for Code.
To learn more information about the Call for Code, contact Dr. Matthew Willard or visit .