Discovering a new club or event at the end of the semester can be bittersweet.
UF students, Nigel Davis, Deion Franklin and Derrick Kerr hope to change this with Grapevine: an app they released in early November that manages campus events for UF and Santa Fe students.
The trio co-founded Grapevine in May after thinking about the idea of an event management app separately for years, Franklin said.
“One of the biggest issues with people leaving schools is because they don’t feel like they’re able to create that home,” Franklin said. “My biggest goal for Grapevine is to help connect students with that student organization that is going to help create that home.”
Franklin, 22-year-old UF Information Systems and Operations Management graduate student, managed the business aspects of starting the app.
He cites studies showing that students involved in extracurriculars tend to have higher GPAs and stay in school longer.
Nigel Davis, 23-year-old UF computer science fifth-year, worked on the software development of the app.
The app will also make promoting events more efficient for organizations, Davis said.
“From an organization perspective, you can get your message out to the broad audience of your entire school rather than just the people who already know you exist,” Davis said.
Students with Apple devices can download the app from the App Store. After creating an account, users are able to follow campus organizations to stay up-to-date on events they’re interested in, filter their event feed by date and sync the app with their Apple Calendar, Davis said.
Students can also follow their friends on the app to see what events they are attending, he said.
Tiffany Scott, 21-year-old UF computer science junior, joined the project in September as a software engineer. Scott says she hopes Grapevine will be as common tongue as downloading Rider or TapRide.
“I don’t know how people rode a bus before Rider,” Scott said. “I want them to say: ‘How did you find an event before Grapevine?’”
Correction: The article was updated to reflect the spelling of Derrick Kerr.
