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Alum-founded business and app aims to help students find their ‘Clyk’
Abbie Anderson正在开发的一款应用程序.S. ’23, has also won a first-place prize of $10,000 in the college edition of “Greenlight Maine"
饿了? 有一个应用程序可以做到这一点.
在缅因州的乡间小路上迷路了? 也有一个应用程序.
但在校园里感到迷茫或孤独? 现在有 Clyk, a new social media platform that aims to connect college students to each other 和ir campus by encouraging students meet others with similar interests, 发现新的爱好和活动, 探索校园内外的新地方.
Pioneered by recent University of New England graduate 艾比·安德森，B.S. ’23 (可持续发展与商业), Clyk is aimed to empower its users to get off of their phones and go meet, 在人, 那些他们在平台上联系的人.
艾比·安德森，B.S. ’23
这款应用的灵感来自安德森自己的大学经历. 她大二那年因为冠状病毒大流行而背井离乡, Anderson found it hard to make lasting connections with other students.
“当时正值大流行时期, 我感到迷茫，被校园和同龄人孤立了,她这样描述自己的经历. “I felt I would’ve benefited from having a support system sooner, 所以我想到了一些方法来帮助学生们感受到更多的联系, 不仅对彼此，而且对校园, 也.”
The idea to start an app, appropriately, just “clicked,” Anderson said.
登录到Clyk时, students are organized into group channels based on their interests, 爱好, 和激情. 例如, a vegan student may be able to use the platform to find other vegan students to share recipes and, 最终, 聚在一起做饭. 学生 can also scroll through a feed that displays upcoming events 也 as updates from their connections.
Clyk用户界面的概念设计，由Clyk提供.
The app also has the added benefit of providing universities with insight into their students’ interests, which can help inform the types of events and initiatives they sponsor. Anderson said her market research — including interviews with representatives from over 40 colleges and universities — showed that, post-COVID, 参加大学主办的活动的人数下降了.
“Post-pandemic, students changed the way that they were connecting,”她说。. “Hallmark events used to define campus culture, but students just stopped attending. 很快, there weren’t big pivotal moments at universities that brought all their students together, and student affairs departments didn't really understand why that was happening. Clyk就是这个问题的答案.”
Anderson said UNE will be the first university to pilot Clyk as a campus community-building 太l this fall.
其他人, 包括该州的一些顶级企业主, have seen the impact the app can have for students — not just in Maine, 但在全国范围内.
周四, 7月6日, Anderson was announced as the winner of the eighth season of the “Greenlight Maine” College Edition, taking home the televised pitch competition’s top prize of $10,为她的商业计划做准备.
自2019年以来, more than a dozen UNE students have been featured either in “Greenlight Maine” competitions or spinoff series. 2020年，校友吉利安·罗比拉德(Jillian Robillard)， B.S. ’20 (Marine Entrepreneurship) won the college edition’s grand prize for her business “Green Bait.”
拿着奖金, Anderson has hired a software engineering firm to develop Clyk on the back end, and she’s employed a user experience designer to polish the app’s user interface.
查看观看派对的照片
“I’ve been preparing for ‘Greenlight Maine’ over the past year, so seeing it all come together and pay off felt like I have a real shot at making this company work,”她说。. “作为一个第一次创业的女商人, it is incredibly validating to see that other people believe in me and my product, 太. 感觉就像一个真正的轮回.”
Anderson said the curricular experiences she had at UNE — as a 邵氏创新研究员，创造者 P.D. 美林Makerspace的学生 商学院 ——给了她创业所需的技能.
她还提到了教师的指导和指导, 受托人, and local business leaders gave her the confidence she needed to find her voice and succeed as a woman in business.
在其他方面，她感谢正规澳门赌场网络理事福特·赖希，J.D., 贾斯汀·希尔, MBA; David Engle, founder of Upright Labs; David Evans Shaw, 亲爱的' 22, founder of IDEXX Laboratories; John Austin, Ph.D.他是纽约大学的临时院长 商学院 和P.D. 美林基金会 正规澳门赌场网络的商业; Justin Bassett, M.S.，主任 创新 和 P.D. 美林Makerspace; Mike Sheldon, PT, D.P.T., associate provost for Academic Affairs; and Ed Cervone，主任 业务 Development for 一个在线，感谢她鼓励她追求自己的梦想.
“这些导师给我的指导是无价的, 拥有这样的支持系统, 尤其是作为一名女性企业家, opens a lot of doors and opportunities for me and really helps ensure that I'm going to be successful and that the business as a whole will grow,”她说。.
查看媒体报道
- 《正规澳门赌场网站》为正规澳门赌场网络毕业生获奖 (MaineBiz)
- Clyk, an app developed by UNE alum, aims to combat campus loneliness (正规澳门赌场网络缅因州)
- UNE alum develops app to try to connect students with similar interests (wgme CBS 13)