Between the hours of homework, sports, and activities that students attempt to juggle, the lives of students at DCDS can become alarmingly chaotic. As a result, organization becomes a huge factor in how many activities someone can manage. These problems that every DCDS student faces motivated seniors Justin Lee, Clark Arenberg, and Alexander Bosch to develop the app DCDSwarm. With Justin as the lead programmer, the three seniors spent weeks coding the app during the summer.
“I get really disorganized sometimes and I often forget to do something or turn an assignment in.” Justin Lee said. “It got really bad so I decided to use that as inspiration for the app,”
DCDSwarm’s concept is simple yet startlingly genius. With the amount of difficult classes a DCDS student takes, keeping track of homework, tests, and quizzes becomes a burdensome task. DCDSwarm helps to solve this problem by showing the class schedule on students’ phones in a convenient interface. Of course, the portal and class schedule can be accessed on a phone, but the process is tedious and time-consuming. DCDSwarm generates a student’s entire schedule at the touch of a button.
“It makes it easier for students to check their homework on their phone.” Lee said. “The portal works just fine on computers, but it’s not ideal for mobile devices. What I did was take the data and make it a little easier to read.”
Although the app is relatively simple to understand and use, its creation definitely wasn’t easy. Lee had to jump through several hoops to bring the app to its current state.
“It took forever.” Clark Arenberg said. “We actually had to change the type of code halfway through and we had to start all over again. It was really tedious.”
Though the app is just getting off the ground, it has gained the praise of its current users for its user-friendliness.
“I always have trouble turning in homework, so this app is a great reminder,” senior and app user Arnav Mahajan said. “I can check my homework anywhere in a few seconds without needing my computer.”
The app is a much more convenient way to access homework when you don’t have time or your laptop is too far away. Because the app is still relatively new, more features, like lunch or block schedules, are still being tested and are pending release. Currently, the app shows the class schedule for each day of the school year, including tests, quizzes, and project due dates.
“I really wanted to make an app for a while so I eagerly jumped on a project that I thought could be a major help for the DCDS community.” Arenberg said. “I also wanted to leave a lasting impression on the school.”
Justin’s next goal for the app is creating notifications that remind students of when assignments are due, a step that will improve the ability of students to turn in assignments on time. Additionally, Justin hopes to continue to work on the app and improve its functionality and stability.
