Honors

I received a Bronze Award in the Design Thinking & Speech Contest at the 2025 World Invention School Expo. In the first round, teams developed a seven-page report identifying a school problem, proposing an innovative solution, and documenting their design thinking process and collaboration. In the second round, finalists presented their ideas through a three-minute speech.

Working with four teammates, including an international student, I dedicated more than 20 hours to researching and developing our solution. We began with a mind map to identify challenges students face on campus. Through brainstorming and reflecting on our own experiences as new students, we recognized that many newcomers struggled to navigate the school and adapt to an unfamiliar environment. To better understand the problem, I designed and conducted a survey, which revealed that more than 68% of respondents felt lost and confused while finding their way around campus on their first day.

Using the design thinking process, I facilitated discussions by organizing our ideas into comparison tables so we could objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each solution before selecting the final concept. I also led my team in developing a prototype of an AI- and AR-powered campus navigation application designed to help new students explore the school more confidently. The application featured a Home Screen that displayed the campus layout, the user's current location, a destination search bar, and an overview of the school. It also included a Route View that provided directional arrows, remaining distance, animations, and information about each location to make navigation easier. To make the system easier to reach, we also designed promotional posters with QR codes that allowed students to quickly access the application.

Through this project, I realized that understanding and empathizing with users' experiences is the key to effective design. I also learned how to navigate differing opinions within a team. Since each of us brought different ideas to the project, reaching a consensus was challenging. However, by taking breaks and revisiting discussions with fresh perspectives, we were able to better understand one another's viewpoints and land on a stronger solution together.