Berea College Q&A

Personal Information

Name: Sahan Malinga Email: sahan.malinga.edu.25@gmail.com

Education

Ordinary Level (O/L) — Completed  Results: 7 A’s and 2 B’s o A Grades: [ Mathematics, Science, English, Commerce, Technology, History, Buddhism] o B Grades: [Sinhala, Sinhala Lit] Estimated GPA: 3.8 / 4.0 Estimated GPA FOR core subjects: 4.0 / 4.0

Inspiration

After O/L, I faced many problems. COVID 19 closed schools, and Sri Lanka’s economic crisis caused unrest. At the same time, my family faced a personal crisis when my father developed a serious health condition following the COVID 19 vaccination. As a result, I was able to cover less than 10% of the A/L syllabus. and the ongoing instability forced me to end my schooling earlier than planned. Despite the setbacks in my A/L results, I refused to give up on my education. I decided to pursue my future studies in the USA. I sent emails to numerous universities inquiring about financial aid and scholarship options for international students. Unfortunately, most responded that no scholarships or aid were available for internationals, while others offered only partial aid. Given my financial situation, I would even need a bank loan just to cover flight tickets, and paying even 10% of the tuition fees is impossible for me. I also discovered universities that offer full need-based scholarships, such as Berea, Yale, MIT, Harvard, and several community colleges. However, at that time, I didn’t focus on top-tier institutions like MIT. My priority was finding a solid, tuition-free education with strong facilities and labs something practical and achievable. I believed I could study anywhere with dedication. So, I focused primarily on Berea College. Then, in the third week of October, I decided to apply to Berea College. I started by visiting the Berea website to explore the application process. I decided I had to go to Berea College no matter what. That night, I couldn’t sleep. The thought consumed me. I started thinking of every possible way to get there. But reality hit hard. I knew I couldn’t get transcripts or recommendation letters from my village school. I didn’t have SAT scores, and I couldn’t take the exam right then because I had no money to pay for it. Waiting another year to apply wasn’t an option, and giving up? Never. I refused to accept “impossible.” I had to find a way. I started analyzing what truly matters to Berea College admissions. Every year, thousands of applicants half of them with near perfect SAT scores, stellar transcripts, and glowing recommendations apply, yet only a tiny fraction get accepted. I realized those credentials are just a baseline, a way to prove you can handle the academics. They’re not what gets you in. Berea College doesn’t care about perfect paperwork. I can’t give excuses for my problems no one cares about excuses. I can only give solutions. I wanted to prove I am worthy to study at Berea College too. I started thinking deeply about what I could do how I could prove it. After reflecting, I decided to create a new project that truly shows who I am. I don’t have high-level experience or advanced knowledge, and I only had less than two weeks to build something. I could only make a small project using the programming skills I taught myself. I knew Berea College doesn’t care whether the project is small or big they only want to see me proving myself. Then I started thinking about what kind of project to make. I can’t build common projects that others do, because my goal isn’t to impress Berea College with the project. My goal is to prove that I can study at Berea College too, that I am worthy too. I can’t be just another applicant submitting a project to impress Berea College. I wanted to be a unique person and tell Berea College exactly who I am. I wanted a new idea. I truly believe new ideas come from new problems—solutions are the real innovation. Most great companies were born from solving a problem their solution became a new business idea. That’s why I started searching for a problem to uncover a new idea. At that time, my biggest problem was finding accurate details about universities from their websites , it took a lot of time, and getting answers from emails took days. Using AI was misleading; sometimes it gave wrong contact details or incorrect information from unofficial sources. I decided to build an app that could pull accurate details about Berea College directly from official sources. I realized this was a great project because it could prove my problem-solving skills and my thinking ability—and most importantly, it would show that I am good enough to study at Berea College.

What it does

My Berea College Q&A web app, a single, self-contained HTML file that lets anyone ask questions about Berea College and get accurate, officially sourced answers using Google’s Gemini API. The app is developed as a single HTML file to ensure easy uploading to portals without issues.

How I built it

I built the Berea College Q&A app as a single page web application using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Tailwind CSS for styling. The core functionality relies on the Google AI Gemini API to handle question-answering, ensuring all responses are grounded exclusively in content from Berea Official official websites. I got help from Grok and Gemini too. With my current skills, I couldn’t complete the full project solo, so relying on Grok and Gemini was my only way forward. I wanted to build the entire project in a single HTML file so anyone could test it easily. I also kept the code minimal, with fewer lines, so anyone reviewing it could read and understand it quickly. Grok suggested using Tailwind CSS, which helped me style it cleanly. Both Gemini and Grok assisted with error handling, debugging, and finalizing the project until it was fully completed. With my basic programming knowledge, I couldn’t have built a complete project like this on my own. But the idea is 100% mine. The basic design is mine. All the core concepts, structure, and purpose are mine. Grok and Gemini only helped enhance the style, error handling, and a few other parts. I really wanted this project to show how I solve problems, how I turned a real challenge into a working solution to prove myself—my thinking process, my approach, and my determination.

Challenges I ran into

Resource Constraints: no access to high-end hardware or paid tools, I relied on a used laptop that couldn't run heavy IDEs. I used GitHub Codespaces for development.

Financial limitations: I couldn't afford premium APIs ; I stuck to Google's free tier for Gemini, which has rate limits and exceeding quotas.

Slow internet

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Despite having only a used laptop, unreliable internet, and less than 3 weeks of focused time, I built a fully functional, AI-powered Q&A web app that answers questions exclusively using official Berea website content.

What I learned

In building this Q&A app under extreme constraints, I learned that true innovation is born from limitation, not abundance. With only a used laptop, unstable internet, and less than two weeks of focused time, This project taught me to turn every “I can’t” into “How can I?”, and that real education begins where excuses end.

What's next for Berea College Q&A

With Berea’s labs, mentors, and resources, this app can evolve from a solo-built prototype into a global tool for future students.

Why I Decided to Apply to This Hackathon

I applied to Berea and several other U.S. colleges, but most require SAT scores exams I can’t afford right now with my family earning only $150 a month. While researching college websites, I discovered hackathons listed as official events with cash prizes. I saw this as my only realistic path to earn money for the SAT.

Github https://github.com/sahanmalingaedu/-berea