Inspiration
Learning to adult is hard and two of the most common challenges are taking care of money and yourself. Managing all of the demands of being a student leads many of us to ignore our mental well-being until we're falling apart. When we finally hit rock bottom, many students are deterred from seeking help by a variety of obstacles - long waitlists at the student counselling centers, the idea of spending hundreds of dollars to see a professional, not knowing where to find help, and often not knowing where to even start.
Most students don't know they have already paid for coverage that can help. Even if you do know there is help available to you, navigating your school's insurance policy to figure out how much you're covered for is frustrating. Students are missing out and we're here to help!
What it does
We collected the key insurance information from local schools to support students in accessing the resources they've already paid for through their school insurance. We connect them with nearby services so they can start getting help right away.
How we built it
We scraped the legalese insurance documents with python and the obscure insurance info on school websites manually to make a database of the key coverage in dollar amounts for students. Then, we connected the data to webflow and built out a website to help students see their coverage easily.
Challenges we ran into
As we were getting familiar with Webflow, we realised that the website puts many restrictions on the data structure and functionality for its user, and gives us very limited room for implementing custom code into the website. Therefore, we had to manipulate the Content Management Systems in a specific and tricky way so that our content hierarchy works the best, and learn the appropriate way to incorporate Google Map API into our website within a few hours. It was a tough challenge to all of us.
Moreover, to achieve our goal of making a clearly displayed and easily comprehensible explanation on college insurance plans, we needed to manually read through a huge variety of websites and types of documents, and manage the information we collected in an orderly manner in a spreadsheet. It was particularly time-consuming and challenging.
Accomplishments we're proud of
Within the last few hours of our time, we successfully implemented customised Google Map API, thanks to the hardwork of teammates Amy and Janie. Our entire group is very proud of this feature.
What we learned
Through this hackathon, we are all more familiar with handling technical difficulties, looking for alternative solutions with restricted options provided, working as a team to tackle multiple tasks at the same time, and last but not least, appreciation and love towards our amazing teammates:)
What's next for Help Yourself
We could expand this website to cater to different student identities, such as students who are covered by their families' insurance, International students and more. Our website can cover more schools not only limited to Vancouver area but the entire country. Furthermore, we could also like to explore the idea of having an intra-website search and FAQ bot functionality to improve our user experience.
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