Streaks cousins to present Computer Science project at University of Chicago

Two Woodstock High School students will present “The Fridge” — an app they designed to track food spoilage — at the University of Chicago on April 24. 

Tiffany Rendon and Carrie Zhang are also first cousins who’ve spent countless hours inside and outside of Jai Sharma’s class on the year-long AP Computer Science project, developing the website application.

“We went from playing Barbies together as kids to working together in the real field, doing stuff we enjoy and doing big things with it,” Rendon said.

Zhang, who will study computer science at the University of Illinois next fall, said schedules finally aligned this school year so she could take a class with her cousin. 

“This was one of the only classes we’ve ever taken together because I’m a senior and she’s a junior,” Zhang said. “I feel like we’re a lot closer now.”

The students were selected from a competitive field of hundreds of Illinois student researchers/developers to present their website application, The Fridge, later this month to students, teachers, professional researchers, software engineers, and Illinois Science and Technology Coalition staff.

“They have been working all year long with a mentor who is a software engineer from Paylocity. They’ve really put in some tremendous work, and we’re really excited for them,” Sharma said.

The Fridge functions by receiving input on the user’s food products and expiration dates. It creates a list of all items, which can be sorted by preference. There is also a list that reminds users when a specific food item is about to expire. Users will also be notified when they have fewer than a specific number of food items as grocery shopping reminders.

The cousins were thrilled they were chosen to present. “We were so excited! Carrie actually got selected two years ago for the showcase, but this was the first time in the project for me,” Tiffany said. “Seeing the ‘congratulations’ on the screen, it was a big step forward in my experience in computer science.”

Carrie said she was particularly excited because she felt the project had real value. “This time, I felt like we wanted to make something that really had an impact on people. We’re trying to help reduce food waste in the world,” Carrie said.

Another one of Sharma’s students, senior Chris Vences, was selected as an alternate for the showcase. His project, titled "Nurture," is a self-help app that he worked on all year long with a psychologist from the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Nurture has anonymous peer support, quick relaxation exercises, mood tracking, and a resource library with information on dealing with anxiety, stress, and other common challenges.

Sharma said all three students, along with all other AP Computer Science students, have been working diligently with professional software engineers via weekly Google meets and written correspondence in the Mentor Match program, and the upcoming showcase will celebrate their hard work.

Also, WHS students Krishna Patel and Eshaan Virani, who were selected to present projects at the showcase for the past two years, have been invited this year as student panelists. They have been asked to speak in front of hundreds of students and mentors about their three consecutive years of experience in the Mentor Match program.