HokieConnect

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  Image of my hack

Inspiration

As a transfer student I noticed how hard it can be to find scholarships that actually apply to you and affordable housing close to campus. So I wanted to create a tool that makes these decisions faster, easier, and smarter.

What it does

HokieConnect is a web app that helps Virginia Tech students:

• Browse scholarships (with details like name, GPA requirement, deadline, and notes).
• Compare housing options (rent, distance from campus, and amenities).
• Ask natural-language questions with Google Gemini AI for guidance.

How we built it

• Frontend: React + Axios to build a responsive interface.
• Backend: Flask (Python) to serve APIs for scholarships, housing, and AI queries.
• AI: Google Gemini API to handle Q&A.
• Data: CSV files containing sample scholarships and housing data.

Challenges we ran into

Challenges I ran into Managing Gemini API rate limits and adding fallback logic. Setting up communication between the React frontend and Flask backend. Making sure the CSV data was clean and formatted for easy display.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a working full-stack app in under 36 hours. Integrated AI so students can get personalized answers beyond just raw data. Designed a clean, simple UI that makes information easy to access.

What we learned

How to connect a React frontend with a Flask backend. How to integrate an external AI API and gracefully handle errors. The importance of quick iteration and testing during hackathons. How to use powershell and github together.

What's next for HokieConnect

Add user accounts so students can save scholarships or housing options. Add more data into the scholarhship and housing csv

Built With

• axios
• csv
• flask
• google-gemini
• python
• react