Inspiration

Students’ academic experiences are shaped by more than grades. Study habits, activities, rest, and how students feel all matter, yet a traditional questionnaire can feel impersonal. We wanted to make reflection easier and more inviting through a playful football experience.

What it does

Kickoff Coach begins with questions about classes, study time, extracurricular activities, and sleep. A local question agent selects follow-ups based on the student’s answers. The results page offers a reflection, one of 16 playful WPTI types mapped to eight football roles, and relevant Virginia Tech resources. Students can optionally ask Gemini for supportive suggestions. A separate staff dashboard shows group-level patterns.

How we built it

We built the interface in Python with Streamlit. A rule-based agent selects questions, a local analysis module organizes the answers, and SQLite stores completed check-ins. Gemini provides optional written guidance and aggregate staff reports. We also added an optional Databricks connection for synthetic demo data.

Challenges we ran into

We had to collect enough context without making the experience feel like an exam. We simplified time questions into selectable ranges, allowed students to skip uncertain answers, and added voice input for open-ended responses. We also had to make sure playful football matches and AI-written text were not mistaken for clinical assessments or proven predictions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We created a working journey from welcome page to adaptive quiz to personalized results. The eight illustrated football characters give students a memorable way to explore their responses. We also built a password-protected staff view that summarizes group responses without displaying individual answers.

What we learned

Good student support starts with listening carefully and showing uncertainty honestly. A self-reported feeling rating is not a diagnosis, and an engaging personality match is not a scientific test. We learned to keep those limits clear while still making the experience warm and useful.

What's next for Kickoff Coach

We plan to connect the frontend with our teammate’s backend, improve consent and data handling, and test the experience with students. Before adding academic or wellbeing predictions, we would need appropriate data, validated outcomes, and careful evaluation.