LinkUp

A university platform that incentivizes student engagement and fosters meaningful connections.
Discover and create campus events, earn points for participation, and redeem rewards.

What Inspired Us

University students increasingly struggle to forge meaningful connections with peers, despite being surrounded by thousands of like-minded individuals. Digital distractions, busy schedules, and social anxiety create barriers to authentic interactions. This social fragmentation impacts not only students' mental wellbeing but also diminishes the holistic educational experience that universities aim to provide.
The challenge: How can we bridge these social gaps by encouraging participation in community events?

What It Does

Discover Events: Browse upcoming campus events by date, category, or popularity to find opportunities that match your interests.
Track Attendance: The platform verifies event participation and automatically awards points to attendees.
Redeem Rewards: Exchange earned points for real-world rewards like coffee vouchers, campus merchandise, and dining discounts.
Points Dashboard: Track points earned, events attended, and rewards redeemed through a personal dashboard.

How We Built It

Frontend: Next.js and React, styled using Tailwind CSS.
Backend: Firebase and NoSQL database.
Hosting: Vercel.

Challenges We Faced

Had no prior web development experience, requiring us to learn and build simultaneously.
Balanced usability with functionality while calibrating point values to sustain user engagement.
Ensured responsive design across all devices and built separate admin and student portals with distinct functionalities.

What We Learned

Managing real-time points and attendance updates efficiently with Next.js and Firebase.
Balancing client-side responsiveness with secure server-side operations through backend integration.

Accomplishment We Are Proud Of

We are proud of building a real-time rewards system that successfully engages students — all while starting with little to no web development experience.