What Could You Build? Meet the Team Behind SafeHaven

Meet Team T.A.R.A.S.—Tvisha Talwar, Anushkaa Sinha, Reeha Ibrahim, Afomia Mesfin, and Shreya Sekar. Together, the team created SafeHaven, an app designed to address safety concerns for students on college campuses, as part of Technovation, a global program that challenges students to build technology solutions that solve real problems in their communities. Code Savvy runs Technovation here in Minnesota. In this What Could You Build? feature, we spoke with team member Reeha Ibrahim about the team’s inspiration, their journey, and how they turned a community problem into a working app.

From a Problem to an Idea

For Reeha and her team, their app idea started with a simple question: What problems around us could technology help solve? When brainstorming ideas, the team would sit down together and talk about what’s wrong in their lives. From there, they would think about larger problems they had experienced or noticed in their communities and consider whether technology could help.

Their ideas covered a wide range of topics, from the environment and food security to education and artificial intelligence. Eventually, they landed on an issue that felt especially relevant to them: safety on college campuses. At the time, there had been a shooting in Dinkytown, a neighborhood just north of the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus, and the team began thinking about how difficult it can be for information about incidents to reach students quickly. They wondered: What if there was a way for students to see what was happening in their area? That question became the foundation for their app.

The team created an app inspired by the way that weather apps display information about different locations. Instead of showing weather conditions, their app would show crime-related information within specific areas, with reports updated by local police and students.

For the team, the idea also connected to something deeply important to all of them: education. “We’re all children of immigrants,” Reeha explained, “so for us, education is a huge thing.” After all, the team wondered, what’s the value of going to college if students don’t feel safe there?

Turning an Idea Into an App

Once the team settled on their idea, they had to figure out how to actually build it. Rather than immediately jumping into code, the team first mapped everything out. They would draw their ideas and create a visual template for how the app should look before beginning the development process. This approach was especially helpful for team members who were less familiar with the technology they were using. The team wanted everyone to have a clear understanding of the idea and its design before diving into the more complicated parts of the development.

The team primarily used React, a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, to build their app and spent time learning it before they began coding. Team members would read articles and familiarize themselves with the technology before putting it into practice.

But the development process wasn’t always easy. One of their biggest challenges was working with APIs (application programming interfaces), which let one app pull in data or features from another service. Many of the APIs they wanted to use cost money, making it difficult to find options that were both useful and free. The team also had trouble getting responses from companies when they reached out about student discounts or trials. Instead of giving up, they researched. Anushkaa in particular became a major resource for the group, spending hours looking through tutorials, articles, YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and past GitHub projects to find solutions. The team also relied on their two mentors when they needed additional help. For Reeha, that process was an important part of learning how to solve problems independently.

A Team Effort

While all five girls had a primary area of responsibility, everyone was willing to help wherever they were needed. This became especially important during a busy time of year when schoolwork, AP exams, and finals competed with Technovation. When one teammate couldn’t contribute as much, others would help take on the extra work. According to Reeha, that willingness to step outside of their individual roles was one of the things that made the team successful.

The team also learned how to collaborate with people they hadn’t worked with before. This season, a new teammate joined after Reeha met her through an internship. Because each teammate attended a different school, their ability to communicate and work together was especially important.

More Than an App

By the end of the project, Reeha was proud of how well the app functioned and of the team’s business model. Their model allowed users to view information for their top three cities, with the option to upgrade to additional cities. The team saw this as one potential way their app could generate revenue while providing more flexibility for users whose families live in different locations.

But the project gave Reeha more than a working app. Through Technovation, she developed experience with React and gained a technical background that has already become useful as she pursues future opportunities. She says that without Technovation, her journey into software could have been significantly delayed, or might not have happened at all. The program also helped her expand her network and discover other opportunities, including NCWIT Aspirations in Computing and the Congressional App Challenge.

Learning to Ask for Help

One of the biggest lessons for Reeha was the importance of asking questions. Her advice is simple: when you’re stuck, look for help. That could mean asking a mentor, talking to an adult, searching Reddit, watching a tutorial, or using a chatbot. What matters is taking the initiative to communicate when you need support.

“It’s up to you to communicate,” Reeha explained.

Her experience with mentors also showed her how valuable that communication can be. During her senior year, the team was working with more complicated technical elements and relied more heavily on their mentors. She was surprised by how willing they were to adjust meetings and work around the team’s busy schedules. For Reeha, the experience reinforced that mentors aren’t there to do the work for you; they’re there to help you when you take the initiative to ask.

Don’t Have an App Idea? Start Looking Around You!

So, what should you do if you want to join Technovation but have no idea what to build? Reeha recommends starting with your own life: think about the problems you encounter every day, whether they’re small annoyances or larger issues that affect your community. Then, do some research. Local news articles and community groups can reveal problems you might not have noticed before. And you don’t have to brainstorm alone. Reeha says that if you’re open to collaborating, finding a team can be another great place to start. She struggled to come up with ideas this season, but some of her teammates had ideas that helped shape the direction of their project. You don’t need to start with the perfect idea. Sometimes, you just need to start asking questions.

What’s Next for Reeha?

Reeha’s interest in building doesn’t stop with Technovation and her internship at Code Savvy. During her time in the program, she also created two apps connected to healthcare. One was a carb-counting app related to diabetes, while the other was designed for patients recovering from injuries, with features such as medication reminders, appointment tracking, and games for patients to play while waiting.

As she heads into college, she’s interested in continuing to explore healthcare technology and finding new ways that apps and websites could help address medical challenges. Her Technovation journey started with a simple idea: technology can be used to solve problems that matter. Now, she’s thinking about what problem she can solve next.