The Spark: A Lost-and-Found App Born from Chaos
This March, I joined an unforgettable 24-hour adventure at Hack the Herd 2025, Amherst’s very own sustainability-themed hackathon. Hosted in the Science Center and supported by the Office of Sustainability, the Ideas 2 Innovation Venture Accelerator, and AI in the Liberal Arts, this year’s hackathon challenged students to create AI-driven solutions for a more sustainable campus.
Our team built a Lost and Found web app, designed to reduce waste and reconnect students with their lost belongings. Using features like AI-based image recognition, interactive campus maps, and time/location filters, our app tackled the practical yet persistent issue of misplaced items at Amherst.
No Sleep, Just Bubble Tea (and Code)
The process wasn’t glamorous—unless you count empty whiteboards, frantic typing, and surviving on snacks and bubble tea glamorous. After forming our team and planning out our idea, we fueled up with dinner and Formosa lunch (thank you, organizers!) and then got to work.
We coded late into the night—debugging bugs, refining UI, and getting the image recognition to run smoothly. By 4 a.m., we finally had a product we were proud of. Yes, we were exhausted. But there’s nothing like that shared sense of victory when a demo actually works after a long night of problem-solving.
Sustainability at the Core
At its heart, our project was about more than tech. Amherst College is a place that deeply values sustainability, and this app reflects that. By helping people recover lost items—from reusable bottles to jackets—we’re encouraging a culture of reuse and care. This aligns perfectly with the waste management and recycling challenge area of the hackathon, which our app was designed for.
And I’m thrilled to say—we won! Our team took 1st place in the Waste Management track, winning $300 and Stanley Cups as a team. More importantly, the organizers expressed real interest in launching the app for campus-wide use. With support from the Office of Sustainability and Ideas2Innovation, we’re already exploring ways to scale it beyond the prototype.
A Culture of Student Innovation
Innovation at Amherst is decentralized, but never disconnected. This project isn’t a one-off; we’re also working on future projects in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, leveraging both tech and community partnerships. From AI-powered compost tracking to climate data visualizations, students here are building solutions with real-world impact—even if it means staying up until sunrise to do it.
Why Hackathons Matter
Hack the Herd was more than just a coding sprint—it was a reminder of what’s possible when students are empowered to create. Whether you’re a Computer Science major or just passionate about sustainability, there’s room for your ideas to thrive here.
If you’re someone who’s excited by invention, community, and maybe a little bubble tea at 2 a.m., I can’t recommend experiences like this enough. Amherst students aren’t just learning about the future—we’re building it, one project at a time.
As always, feel free to contact me at ttanaka28@amherst.edu if you have any questions or simply want to chat more about Amherst College!