The Big Problem with Student Projects
At my university (BulSU-Sarmiento Campus), I see so many students and seniors spend months pulling all-nighters to build awesome capstones, mobile apps, and side projects.
But here's the sad part, the second finals week is over and the grades are in, that project basically dies. It gets left on someone's hard drive or buried in an unstarred GitHub repo, and nobody ever gets to see it again. Incoming freshmen don't get to learn from what was built before them, and builders end up with no easy way to show off their finished work to recruiters.
As a sophomore IT student and Communications Associate, I wanted to change that. Back in May, I started drafting a proposal and technical plan for LaunchPad which is a dedicated digital showcase platform where BSIT and BSDS student builders can submit their projects and keep them permanently visible.
How LaunchPad Works
I designed LaunchPad to look and feel like an app store directory specifically tailored for students:
1. Filterable Project Gallery (/projects)
Visitors can browse through approved projects by track (Personal vs. Capstone Teams), tech stack, and categories like AI/ML, Developer Tools, Games, IoT, and Utilities.
2. App-Store Style Detail Pages
Every project page gets a banner, app icon, video demo links, github repo links, a screenshot gallery, and a clean breakdown of the team members who built it.
3. Public Builder Portfolios (/u/:username)
Every student builder gets their own profile page listing their bio, social links, and all the approved projects they’ve contributed to, making it easy to drop as a link on resumes or LinkedIn.
4. Admin Review Queue (/admin)
To keep the directory high quality, nothing goes live automatically. An admin checks the repository link, tests the live demo, and confirms that visual screenshots look good before publishing it to the public directory.
Tech Stack & Architecture
I wanted LaunchPad to be rock solid, completely free to run for our campus, and built with modern web tools:
- React + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS: Clean, fast interface with accessible components.
- Supabase (PostgreSQL): Handles relational tables for projects, team member credits, screenshots, and favorites.
- Google OAuth with Domain Verification: Students can sign in with their university Google accounts through a Supabase auth hook so we don't have to manage custom passwords.
- Row-Level Security (RLS): Strict database rules so students can only edit their own projects, while public visitors can only read approved projects.
- Resend: Transactional emails for submission status updates (Approved, Changes Requested) with zero subscription fees.
Where It Stands Right Now
In a nutshell, I am currently building the platform scaffold, database schema, and review workflows targeting a public launch around November 2026. Students keep 100% ownership of everything they code, LaunchPad is just the permanent digital gallery our campus needed.