Tagline
A Single all-in-1 platform for all club management needs for all educational institutions.
Inspiration
We're tech club leaders at Texas Tech University who've spent the past few years running Google Developer Group, CodePath.org, and Major League Hacking chapters on campus. When we organized HackWesTX, our own hackathon, we hit a breaking point managing everything across Google Sheets, Discord servers, email chains, and paper forms. The worst moment? Our opening ceremony had 30% fewer attendees than RSVPs because reminder emails went to spam and Discord announcements got buried. We were juggling five different platforms just to track who was coming, communicate updates, and manage our budget. It was chaos. We looked for solutions but found either enterprise tools built for corporations or basic event apps that didn't get how student organizations actually work. We needed something that understood the reality of club life - managing memberships, coordinating with faculty advisors, tracking budgets, planning events, and keeping members engaged. So we built CampusConnect. Not just for us, but for every student leader who's ever lost track of club finances in a spreadsheet at 2am or watched their carefully planned event flop because nobody saw the announcement.
What it does
For Students:
Discover clubs based on interests with AI-powered recommendations Join clubs and manage memberships in one place Receive personalized notifications about events relevant to their interests RSVP to events with a single click and get calendar reminders Track involvement hours and engagement automatically
For Club Leaders:
Create and manage events with smart scheduling suggestions Send targeted announcements to specific member groups Track attendance automatically with QR code check-ins Manage club finances and generate budget reports instantly Access engagement analytics to understand what's working Handle membership applications and approvals seamlessly
For Administrators:
Get real-time campus-wide visibility into all club activities Monitor compliance and resource allocation across organizations Generate institutional reports for accreditation and assessment Identify at-risk students through engagement patterns Support clubs with data-driven insights and recommendations
How we built it:
Frontend: We built the user interface with React and TypeScript, prioritizing type safety and component reusability. TypeScript catches bugs at compile-time rather than runtime, which was crucial for maintaining code quality as features expanded. Our component library follows atomic design principles, making the interface consistent and the codebase maintainable.
Backend & Database: MongoDB serves as our database because club data varies significantly, and since a computer science club's structure differs from a sports team, MongoDB's flexible document model accommodates this diversity without forcing everything into rigid tables.
Authentication - Auth0 Auth0 handles all authentication, supporting university SSO, and email/password. This gives us enterprise-grade security while letting students choose their preferred login method, but mostly through Microsoft Login or their University Login. We also used role-based access control ensures club presidents or directors see different features than general members.
AI Integration - Gemini API: We integrated Google's Gemini API to make the platform intelligent. When students sign up, Gemini analyzes their interests and recommends relevant clubs. For club leaders, it enhances event descriptions, suggests optimal timing based on historical attendance data, and provides actionable insights like "Your members are most engaged on Tuesday evenings." Natural language search lets students query "clubs for photography beginners" and get contextual results.
Development Workflow: We use Git for version control.
Challenges we ran into
Supabase Didn't Work Out: We started with Supabase for quick setup, but real-time subscriptions kept dropping during testing, Row Level Security got complicated with our different user roles, and it didn't support university SSO. After two days of frustration, we migrated to MongoDB for the database and Auth0 for authentication.
Auth0 Learning Curve: Auth0 solved our SSO problem but was confusing at first. We had to learn the difference between access tokens and ID tokens, and kept getting "redirect_uri mismatch" errors. Turns out we needed to add both http://localhost:3000/callback and our production URL to Auth0's allowed callbacks list. Once we figured out the Auth0 React SDK and the useAuth0() hook, social logins finally worked.
Gemini API Authentication Issues: Our Gemini API calls kept returning 403 errors. We were using the wrong endpoint (v1 instead of v1beta) and hadn't enabled the Gemini API in Google Cloud Console - just having the key wasn't enough. After fixing that, our prompts gave generic responses until we learned to add context like "You are helping university students find clubs" and provide structured club data.
Time Crunch: We split responsibilities - one person on React/UI, one on backend/MongoDB, one on Gemini/Auth0. This parallel development was efficient but meant we couldn't test integration until later. When we connected everything, we hit issues with mismatched data formats between frontend and backend, but debugged together and made it work.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
It Actually Works: Despite all the pivots and debugging, we built something functional that solves a real problem we face as club leaders. It's not just a demo - it's a tool we'd actually use.
Smart AI Recommendations: The Gemini integration understands context. When someone searches for "leadership," they get student government, volunteer orgs, and leadership programs - not just keyword matches.
TypeScript Saved Us: Using TypeScript throughout caught bugs before production. When we had to refactor quickly during integration, the type system prevented us from breaking everything.
Real Learning: We went from never using Auth0 or Gemini to building working integrations. MongoDB schema design, prompt engineering, OAuth flows - we learned by doing.
What we learned
Validate Tech Stack Early: Switching from Supabase to MongoDB mid-project cost us two days. Next time, we'll prototype the hardest parts first - like auth flows - before building everything around them.
Authentication is Complex: We underestimated auth complexity. Tokens, callbacks, session management, role-based access - it's not just "add a login button." Using Auth0 was the right call because building this ourselves would've taken the entire hackathon.
Define APIs Before Splitting Work: Parallel development let us move fast, but integration was stressful. We should've agreed on exact data structures and endpoints before dividing work. Mock data would've saved debugging time later.
Read Docs Carefully: The Auth0 callback issue and Gemini endpoint confusion were both documented - we just skimmed too quickly under time pressure. Sometimes slowing down to read thoroughly saves time overall.
What's next for CampusConnect
Multi-Institution Infrastructure: Building the architecture to support institution selection, data isolation, and institution-specific configurations. This includes adding organization management, allowing super-admins to configure policies, and ensuring complete data separation for security and compliance.
Room Booking Integration: Partnering with major campus scheduling systems (25Live, EMS, etc.) to enable seamless room reservations directly within the event creation flow. This includes conflict detection, capacity checking, and automated approval workflows.
Mobile Native Apps: While our responsive web app works on mobile, dedicated iOS and Android apps will provide better offline functionality, push notifications, and QR code scanning for event check-ins. Native apps also enable location-based features like "clubs meeting nearby."
Advanced Analytics Dashboard: Expanding analytics for administrators with predictive insights - identifying students at risk of disengagement, forecasting resource needs, measuring diversity and inclusion metrics, and benchmarking against peer institutions.
Financial Management Tools: Enhanced budgeting features including expense tracking with receipt uploads, reimbursement workflows, budget forecasting, and integration with institutional finance systems for automated fund allocation.
Alumni Engagement Module: Connecting current students with alumni from their clubs to create mentorship opportunities, fundraising channels, and long-term community building that extends beyond graduation.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.