Sidequest

Club Event
Message Page
Language Exchange
Language Exchange 2
Calendar
Quest Page
Quest Page 2
Who's free?
Home Page

Inspiration

As international students, we have all experienced how isolating university can feel. Arriving in a new country often means adapting to a different culture, communicating in another language, and rebuilding your social circle from the beginning.

We noticed that students often have short gaps between classes but no easy way to discover what is happening nearby or find someone to spend that time with. We built Sidequest to turn those empty timetable gaps into spontaneous adventures, new friendships, and meaningful campus connections.

What it does

Sidequest helps students:

Discover nearby campus events and activities
Find events that match their interests and available time
Join event crews and chat with other attendees
Connect with trusted friends and student communities
Create student meetups or official club events
Track quests, rewards, schedules, and saved activities
Find language-exchange partners and low-pressure hangouts

How we built it

We built Sidequest with React, TypeScript, Next.js/Vinext, and Vite. Interactive campus maps use Leaflet and OpenStreetMap, while browser local storage preserves prototype data such as profiles, events, messages, preferences, and schedules.

We designed the experience around a responsive, map-first interface so students can quickly understand what is happening, where it is located, and whether it fits their day.

Challenges we faced

One major challenge was combining many social features without making the interface overwhelming. We focused on clear navigation, approachable language, and low-pressure ways to participate.

We also had to manage authentication, data persistence, maps, event recommendations, and messaging within a limited hackathon timeframe. Building graceful fallbacks allowed the prototype to remain usable even when external services or a database were unavailable.

What we learned

We learned that addressing student loneliness is not only about listing events—it is about reducing the uncertainty and anxiety around joining them. Showing who an event is for, why it matches someone, and how attendees can connect beforehand makes participation feel much easier.

Our own experiences as international students also taught us that even a small invitation can make someone feel more welcome and connected.

Technically, we gained experience in:

Building a feature-rich React application
Managing browser state
Integrating interactive maps
Designing responsive interfaces
Coordinating development across a team

What’s next

Next, we would:

Connect all prototype features to a shared production database
Add verified university authentication
Improve personalised recommendations
Introduce real-time messaging
Partner with student clubs to bring live campus events into Sidequest
Expand language-exchange and newcomer features to better support international students adjusting to a new campus and country