By the time Friday rolls around, I know many of us are dropping the books and releasing sighs of “TGIF.” After the initial moment of relief, the question hits us, “What is there to do this weekend?” We are confronted with either a myriad of possibilities from which it is impossible to choose from or the lazy answer from a friend “I dunno.” Thanks to a new student-run website, CalHaps, however, a weekly list of student events and happenings can be displayed at our fingertips by just the click of a mouse.

 

CalHaps, launched on August 19th was designed by three Berkeley sophomores Hardik Agrawal, Sanchit Bareja, and Varun Rau. According to Rau, the site answers the quintessential question, “I’m bored, what’s up?” Students are able to go to the website, www.calhaps.com, scroll through a list of weekly events happening on or around the Berkeley campus, and find the event’s location on a Google map as well as submit details for their own event they wish to inform Berkeley students of.

 

Already CalHaps has received 3,500 unique visitors, and over half have visited the site multiple times. Agrawal, Bareja, and Rau are personally monitoring and submitting events, but have already seen an increase in event submissions from outside parties, specifically fraternities who are now coming to them to post their social happenings.

With the Greek rush season just coming to a close, CalHaps mainly features Greek social events. However, Agrawal, Bareja, and Rau hope to include information about concerts at the Greek Theater, club performances, ASUC sponsored events and any other events that may be of interest to students. With events listed on the website, organizations can hopefully rely less on flyering and direct students to the virtual calendar.

As for future features, Bareja hopes to incorporate the site with a Facebook login so that users can “have as much of a personalized experience as possible.” The site can suggest events that may interest students based on certain specifications they would mark. Users will still be able to access all events anonymously and view all events that are public. Users have also asked for categorization of events on the site and the creators hope to implement this shortly.

Rau is also working on creating an iPhone app for the CalHaps website which would include a GPS feature so that students could take full advantage of the information that’s being collected and go to events close to and specific to them. “A lot of times students may get bored at one party and want to check out other ones without having to walk far, with the app students would be able to do that,” stated Agrawal.

The site aims to be as user-friendly as possible, and even people (like myself) who are not technologically inclined, can easily navigate the event listings. Agrawal, Bareja, and Rau are continuing to tailor the site to users’ needs and simply want college students to be aware of what’s going on around them so they don’t miss out on some cool events.

“People are bored for no reason, Berkeley is a lot like Las Vegas in that you can spend your time doing something at all moments and still miss 90% of what’s going on. CalHaps helps students make the best decision of how to make the most of their time at Berkeley,” said Rau.

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