After a long school day and drawling extracurriculars some students wind down by playing video games or hanging out with their friends, others start businesses.
Scorecard is an app used among students in Austin Independent School District (AISD). It was started by Adrian Casares, a senior at LASA. The application helps students access their grades and clubs through a streamlined process. The app combines information from the Frontline grading system—the platform AISD uses for grades—with an aesthetically pleasing and easy-to-use app.
“At first, I made a Chrome extension called Canvas+,” Casares said. “A lot of people told me, as a natural extension of that, to make something for grades.”
Casares initially developed the idea of Canvas+ in October 2021 and, after working on it, published the extension in November 2022. After release, he also created the official Scorecard app in February 2024 following the required certification from the district.
“I used to have some goals about how many people I wanted to sign up on the first day and things like that,” Casares recalled. “It was mainly just a project and the satisfaction of just getting the project used by everyone.”
Many students at LASA consistently use Scorecard on a daily basis to check their grades or club messages. Suhani Mundra, a sophomore, loves the app and utilizes it regularly.
“I think it could help a lot of people, especially if they have a teacher who takes a while to enter in grades,” Mundra stated. “It lets you play around with your grades and keep track of your goals in a really well designed way.”
Senior Deven Sharma also started an organization, Fizz Now. Fizz Now is a sustainable company focused on supplying carbonated water makers to coffee shops and various stores that make carbonated drinks.
“My goals were to cut the waste that coffee shops and other restaurants produce by using canned or bottled sparkling water,” Sharma said. “And instead switch to reusable and refillable cylinders that my company supplies.”
Like Casares, Sharma also had to prepare and plan out the actual start of his company, though it took less time to take off and gain popularity. With the help of his father, Sharma started the organization in the middle of the pandemic and has continued working on it since.
According to Sharma, “It took about a month to have a proper system down and actually focus on gaining customers, not just logistics.”
Various Fizz Now locations can be found around the city, as well as in some stores outside of Austin. They are looking to expand their reach and continue partnering with more businesses to help combat the carbon footprint of the carbonate drinks industry.
“I think it’s great that people at school do so many different things and can bring their goals to real life in a way that we can also benefit from,” stated Mundra. “It really inspires me and reminds me that I can do these things too.”
