Friendzy - Breaking Social Barriers in Schools

🌟 1st Place Winner - Women in Engineering Hackathon University of Waterloo 2024

🎯 Category: Inclusivity in Schools

🚀 Project Overview

Friendzy is an innovative solution designed to break down social barriers in schools by facilitating meaningful connections between students. We recognize that many students stick to familiar groups, making it challenging to form new friendships and collaborate with peers outside their immediate circle.

💡 The Problem

• Students often form exclusive social groups
• Difficulty in initiating conversations with new peers
• Limited opportunities for diverse social interactions
• Challenging team formation in classes and activities
• Social anxiety in approaching new potential friends

🎯 Our Solution

Friendzy uses an interactive chatbot powered by advanced AI to:

1. Engage students in brief, friendly conversations (≈2 minutes)
2. Collect information about their interests and personalities
3. Match students with compatible peers using smart algorithms
4. Provide conversation starters based on shared interests
5. Facilitate natural group formations for various school activities

⚡ Key Features

• 🤖 Interactive AI Chatbot: Friendly, engaging conversation partner
• ⚡ Quick Process: Just 2 minutes to complete
• 🤝 Smart Matching: Algorithm pairs students with similar interests
• 💭 Conversation Starters: AI-generated ice-breakers based on common interests
• 🔄 Seamless Integration: Easy to implement in various school activities
  • Physical Education teams
  • Lunch break groupings
  • Class projects
  • Study groups

🛠️ Technical Stack

• Frontend: Flask, HTML/CSS
• Backend: Python
• AI Model: Google Gemini 1.5
• Data Storage: CSV (easily upgradable to databases)
• API Integration: Google GenerativeAI

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/friendzy.git

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Set up environment variables:

cp .env.example .env
# Add your Google API key to .env file

4. Run the application:

python app.py

📊 Impact & Results

• 🎯 Increased cross-group interactions
• 🤝 More diverse team formations
• 📈 Enhanced classroom collaboration
• 💪 Reduced social anxiety
• 🌈 More inclusive school environment

🌟 Project Links

• 🌐 Try Friendzy
• 📊 View Presentation

👥 Contributors

Tejasvini Chawla (Backend), Emma lassaline (UI), Keira Jullienne (Presentation and Pitch), Carolyn Yao (UI)

---

Made with ❤️ for creating inclusive school environments

🌟 Star us on GitHub | 🐛 Report Bug | ✨ Request Feature