It is time to announce the participants for in The Palisadoes Foundation’s 2024 Google Summer of Code (GSoC)! We are very proud to announce the names of the 8 participants this year who will be funded by Google to work on our Talawa projects.

These recipients represent the very best of the many excellent proposals that we had to choose from. For those unfamiliar with the program, the Google Summer of Code brings together ambitious open source newcomers from around the world with open source developers by giving each mentoring organization funds to hire a set number of participants. These participants then write proposals, which they submit to a mentoring organization, in hopes of having their work funded.

There were many excellent proposals and the final selection was difficult. There were many worthy proposals and we could not select them all.

Congratulations to this group. We hope they and others will continue to contribute to the projects!

The hard work of our successful candidates has been rewarded. In no particular order they are:

1. Aman Singh Chandel for “Improved File Uploads and Security”
2. Disha Talreja for “Self Hosted Chat and Notification”
3. Shekhar Patel for “Event Attendance – Talawa Admin”
4. Glen Dsouza for “Hybrid: Volunteer management, tracking & leaderboard – Talawa Admin & Talawa Mobile”
5. Meetul Rathore for “Tag Management System”
6. Parag Gupta for “Enhancements for Talawa’s Event Plugin and new management feature for Talawa App”
7. Shaik Mahammad Nabi Azad for “Offline Capability Enhancement – Talawa Mobile”
8. Adarsh Tiwari for “Migration to postgreSQL and fixing code quality issues”

Our community will continue to work on making not only these but other project ideas viable. We all anxiously await the next steps.

Congratulations to the awardees, and those of you who helped build the foundations of a robust code base.

Crystian was our first volunteer based outside Jamaica!

She began working on soliciting grants for our Calico Challenge program. All our Jamaican sponsors are familiar with her work.

In 2020, she submitted our first Google Summer of Code (GSoC) application. We didn’t get selected, but she had faith in our mission and applied again. We were successful! She helped us get selected for the GithHub Externship and Outreachy programs too.

She has been very active in our slack and GitHub communities. She assigns issues, tests out our code and gives advice to our contributors.

Listen to her video to hear even more!

Eshaan is one of our 2023 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) participants working on our Talawa projects. He started participating earlier this year, and was formally accepted as a GSoC participant in May. He has been collaborating with other participants and mentors on his various GitHub pull requests

Welcome Eshaan!

Hi! I am Eshaan Aggarwal, the developer-next-door from India. I am in my pre-final year and am pursuing B. Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT BHU (Varanasi). I have always been passionate about technology, for it is the tool that helps to bridge the gap between imagination and reality! When I’m not nerd-ing out about Vue, you can probably find me vibing to Spotify on my headphones that I never leave behind. I love desserts, blurry pictures, sweatshirts, and smiles!

My father always said that success lies in addressing small, overlooked issues ordinary individuals face. He emphasized that by solving problems so ingrained in people’s lives that they no longer consider them problematic, one can create a product that resonates with the masses. This philosophy has become the guiding principle of my aspirations. The Talawa project aligns perfectly with this virtue, for we aim to solve a simple problem: letting communities manage and organize themselves in an intuitive manner! This project could reform all communities, irrespective of their size or technological know-how!

Also, this bio would certainly be incomplete without mentioning my love for Open Source! Ever since my freshman year, I have been lucky enough to be a member of multiple open-source communities, and the learnings that I have gained from them (both technical and interpersonal) are something that forms the backbone of my personality. The inclusivity and the willingness to help others learn is something that even today feels too good to be true!

Nitya is one of our 2023 Outreschy participants working on our Talawa projects. She started participating earlier this year, and was formally accepted as an Outreachy participant in May. She has been collaborating with other participants and mentors on his various GitHub pull requests.

Welcome Nitya!

I am an enthusiastic individual currently pursuing studies at IGDTUW, with a strong inclination towards open-source projects and a passion for collaborating with like-minded individuals. Apart from my academic pursuits, I find joy in basketball, design, and music, which provide me with a well-rounded perspective on life.

In my journey, Talawa has played a transformative role, making a significant difference in my life. It has become a cornerstone for my professional growth, offering a unique space where I can thrive and contribute. More than just a platform, Talawa has given me the chance to engage with a diverse range of perspectives and ideas, further fueling my passion for open-source projects and motivating me to push boundaries. It has empowered me to make a positive impact and inspired me to continue exploring the endless possibilities 🙂

Noble is one of our 2023 Google Summer of Code (GSoC) participants working on our Talawa projects. He started participating earlier this year, and was formally accepted as a GSoC participant in May. He has been collaborating with other participants and mentors on his various GitHub pull requests.

Welcome Noble!

Noble Mittal is a software developer, who is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering at the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. As a Junior at IIT Roorkee, Noble has demonstrated a profound interest in the fields of Competitive Programming and Full-Stack Development, constantly seeking opportunities to enhance his skills and knowledge.

Currently, Noble is engaged in an exciting endeavor as part of the Google Summer of Code 2023 program, working for Talawa, a project under The Palisadoes Foundation. He was selected for the project “Hybrid Innovation: Build User Portal for Talawa,” which aims to enhance the user experience for regular Talawa users. Since December 2022, Noble has been actively contributing to the Talawa Project, driven by the satisfaction of working on a solution that will benefit numerous nonprofit organizations. Talawa provides seamless management for organization admins, facilitating efficient organization member management and event coordination.

Apart from this, Noble actively engages in various programming platforms such as Codeforces, Codechef, and Atcoder, where he consistently challenges himself and strives to learn different algorithms. Moreover, as a Project Leader in the Information Management Group at IIT Roorkee, Noble takes on the responsibility of maintaining and developing Intra-Institutional apps for the residents of IIT Roorkee, leveraging packages like Django, Django-REST-Framework, Django-Channels, React, and Redux to create innovative solutions.