Her Buddy

Inspiration

Her Buddy was inspired by a problem that many college students experience but do not always talk about: feeling alone or unsafe while moving around campus.

Sometimes students want to attend an event, walk to another building, study somewhere new, or simply get across campus, but they may not know anyone who is going the same way. This can be especially uncomfortable at night or in unfamiliar parts of campus.

We wanted to create a platform that helps students build real connections while also making everyday campus life feel more comfortable and supported.

Our goal was to combine community, safety, wellness, and convenience into one student-centered experience.

What it does

Her Buddy is a campus community platform designed to help students connect with people they may feel comfortable walking, studying, or attending events with.

One of our main features is Buddy Matching. Instead of randomly showing nearby users, Her Buddy can connect students based on shared information such as:

Major
Year in school
Interests
Clubs
Events they want to attend
General campus area
Availability
Walking preferences

We designed the matching system with privacy in mind. Exact locations, classrooms, and detailed schedules are not meant to be publicly displayed.

Her Buddy also includes features for:

Finding or joining campus walking groups
Starting and completing walks
Safety check-ins
Confirming that a student arrived safely
Tracking walking and wellness activity
Finding students interested in the same campus events
Community pickup and drop-off requests

Our goal is not just to help students get from one place to another, but to help them feel more connected while doing it.

How we built it

We divided the project into different feature areas so each team member could focus on a specific part of Her Buddy.

Our prototype was built primarily as a web application using technologies such as:

HTML, Tailwind CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, Express, PostgreSQL, TigerData, Auth0, Google Maps API, Google Directions API, ElevenLabs Conversational AI, Vercel, Render, GitHub.

We developed the user interface first and then worked on connecting the different features and logic behind the application.

Different team members focused on areas such as:

Overall UI and navigation
Walking and wellness tracking
Buddy and group matching
Safety features
Pickup and delivery
Backend and shared data

For our matching concept, we focused on creating connections based on shared campus life rather than exposing a student's exact real-time location.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was that we did not begin the hackathon working inside one shared repository.

During the first part of the project, different team members worked on separate files. On the second day, we had to figure out how to combine those pieces into one working application, which created extra integration and debugging work.

Another challenge was that not everyone on our team had experience with all of the technologies we were using. Most of us are still relatively new to several of the tools, APIs, and frameworks involved in the project.

We also ran into challenges while working with services such as maps, APIs, databases, and authentication. Some features required additional setup and permissions that we had not expected.

Because of the limited hackathon timeframe, we also had to make decisions about which ideas should be part of the working prototype and which features should remain future improvements.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that our team was able to take a broad idea about women's safety, wellness, and community and turn it into a much more focused product concept.

Some of the accomplishments we are most proud of include:

Building an interactive prototype within a short hackathon timeframe
Designing a buddy matching experience based on shared interests, clubs, majors, events, and campus life
Thinking about privacy from the beginning instead of simply exposing nearby users
Combining walking, social connection, safety, and wellness into one concept
Learning how to integrate work created by different team members
Continuing to build even when we were using technologies that were unfamiliar to us

We are especially proud that Her Buddy became more than just a walking app. It became a concept for helping students feel like they have someone to connect with on campus.

What we learned

One of the biggest things we learned was how important project organization is when working with a team.

If we were starting again, we would create one shared GitHub repository and establish our project structure at the very beginning. This would make collaboration, version control, and integration much easier.

We also learned a lot about:

GitHub and collaborative development
Frontend web development
Firebase and shared application data
APIs and third-party services
Designing matching logic
Debugging code from multiple contributors
Building with privacy and user safety in mind
Dividing a large idea into smaller features that can actually be completed during a hackathon

Most importantly, we learned that building a product is not only about adding as many features as possible. It is also about understanding the problem, deciding what matters most to the user, and designing a clear experience around that problem.

What's next for Her Buddy

There are many directions we would like to take Her Buddy after the hackathon.

Our next steps would include creating a more unified production-ready codebase and connecting the prototype to a full backend.

Future improvements could include:

GSU account or university email verification
Firebase Authentication and Firestore integration
More advanced Buddy Match scoring
Real campus events and club data
Google Maps and Places integration
Location-based group matching
Optional trusted-contact location sharing during active walks
Stronger reporting, blocking, and privacy controls
Push notifications for walk and safety updates
Optional voice responses through tools such as ElevenLabs
User testing with real students to understand what makes them feel comfortable and safe