This is our start page.
This is what a user's screen opens up to after making their profile.
There are several opportunties to pick from depending on your interests and talents.
One of our features that can be seen in the previous screenshot
The webstie uses AI to determine what you could improve on or take part in to gain more experience for certain opportunties.
One of the tabs on the dashboard where you can view all your information.
The different tabs for the user.
A customizable schedule for the user with suggestions already added to aid them in planning out their future steps.

Inspiration

As high school students ourselves, my two teammates and I understand how difficult it can be to find opportunities that actually fit our interests and experience. When we first started looking for hackathons and other programs to participate in, we had a hard time finding resources that were specifically designed to help students our age discover opportunities that were realistic and relevant to us. That experience made us realize that the problem goes beyond hackathons. There are countless internships, research programs, volunteer opportunities, mentorships, and summer programs available to high school students, but finding the right ones can be overwhelming, especially when you do not know what to search for in the first place. That became the inspiration behind our project. We wanted to create something that would make opportunity discovery easier for students who might not have access to extensive guidance, professional connections, or someone who can tell them where to start. Instead of expecting students to already know what they are looking for, we wanted to create a tool that starts with who they are and helps them discover what could be a good fit.

What it does

Our platform is an AI-powered opportunity discovery tool designed specifically for high school students. Instead of simply searching for an opportunity by title or keyword, students answer questions about their interests, experiences, goals, location, availability, and other relevant factors. Our platform uses that information to help identify opportunities that align with their individual profiles. The goal is not to tell students what they should do with their future. It is to help them discover possibilities they may never have known existed and give them a more personalized starting point. We want to make the process of finding opportunities feel less like searching through an endless list and more like discovering options that actually make sense for you.

How we built it

We built the project using Visual Studio Code and DevSwarm, with assistance from GitHub Copilot throughout the development process. We worked together to design the user experience, build the platform, troubleshoot issues, and connect the different parts of the application. Because we wanted the experience to feel simple and approachable for students, we focused heavily on making the questions and opportunity-matching process intuitive. We also spent time testing different parts of the application as we built it so that the final product would feel practical rather than just being a technical demonstration.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was that we are all high school students and came into the project with limited coding experience. As a result, even relatively small technical problems could take a significant amount of time to understand and troubleshoot. We had to learn as we went, work through errors, and figure out how different parts of our project connected. We also were not initially sure whether the problem we were trying to solve was something other students actually experienced. Before fully committing to the idea, we created a quick survey to see whether students felt that finding relevant opportunities was difficult and whether they would actually use a tool like ours. The responses were encouraging and gave us the confidence to continue developing the project.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our biggest accomplishment is simply taking an idea that started as a problem we personally experienced and turning it into a working product within the time we had. None of us started this project as experienced developers, so getting the platform functional and ready to demonstrate was a major achievement for our team. We are also proud that we did not just build an idea based on assumptions. We took the time to ask other students whether they actually experienced this problem, used their feedback to validate our concept, and then continued building once we saw that there was genuine interest. Most importantly, we are proud that we created something that we would actually want to use ourselves. As high school students, we know how overwhelming it can be to figure out where to look for opportunities, and building a tool that could make that process easier for other students makes the project especially meaningful to us. We started with limited coding experience, but through the process we learned how to turn an idea into something real, work through problems as a team, and keep improving even when we were not sure we had the answer yet.

What we learned

Through building Voyage, we learned that creating a meaningful product starts with understanding the people you are building for. Our survey showed us how important it is to validate an idea before investing time into it, and the feedback we received helped shape the direction of our project. We also learned how much can be accomplished when you are willing to learn along the way. Even with limited coding experience, we were able to turn an idea into a working product by researching, troubleshooting, and working together as a team. Most importantly, we learned that a project does not have to start perfect. It can start with a problem you care about, and grow through feedback, persistence, and collaboration.

What's next for Voyage

We see Voyage as the starting point for a much larger platform. With the help of more experienced developers, we hope to add features that support students beyond discovering opportunities, such as AI-assisted resume building, application preparation, and tools to help students stay organized throughout the process. We also hope to partner with organizations and companies that want to reach high school students. Promoting relevant opportunities through Voyage could create a sustainable source of revenue while giving students access to even more opportunities. Ultimately, we want Voyage to become a place where students can discover opportunities, build the resources they need to pursue them, and feel confident taking their next step.