New mobile app offers networking opportunities

Mobile app Peabj is a social platform that connects Tampa students across different disciplines to help them and their projects grow.

Building lasting connections is important for college students. However, they will often find it difficult to make these links. Peabj co-creator Kamila Kashanova said it’s important for students to show off what they have accomplished.

“People need to know that you are doing something. Which happens a lot to engineers when we start connecting with them,” said Kashanova. “Some of them work in cool projects, but they die in obscurity because they never show it to anyone. They never present it to anyone. That’s what Peabj is all about.”

Hundreds of students at the University of South Florida have used the app. The developers are taking feedback to improve Peabj. Co-founder Jordan Murti said the app provides a valuable toolkit.

“It is not just the social aspect of like meeting people who have those skills because plenty of apps already have it,” said Murti. “It’s that component [that] introduces you to … all the tools you need to make a project possible.”

Peabj is available to students at the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. The co-founders have planned to include universities on the West Coast.

For more information, visit peabj.com

Wreaths Across America supporting veterans for the holidays

Wreaths Across America has more than 4,000 locations that will celebrate veterans and fallen service members on Dec. 16, and today is the last day to sponsor a wreath.

The celebration comes between two holidays honoring servicemembers, with Veterans Day in the Fall and Memorial Day in the Spring. This year’s theme for Wreaths Across America is “Serve and Succeed.” More than 2,000,000 volunteers and supporters are expected to attend the events.

Army nurse Alicia Rossiter said it’s important to teach the next generation about the importance of those who serve.

“Just because we are not at war does not mean that we don’t have servicemembers deployed,” said Rossiter. “Our veterans have needs as do our military families, and I think it’s critically important that we remember that motto this year. To remember to teach and to honor.”

To sponsor a wreath, visit their website at wreathsacrossamerica.com