Nebraska Wesleyan students create app to connect locals with tourists

When traveling somewhere new, it’s nice to have someone to experience local attractions with.

As international students from Brazil at Nebraska Wesleyan, Gabriel Sellmer and Raissa Souza knew the feeling.

“I wouldn’t know where to go during the weekends, we’d joke that everyone would leave and we wanted someone to guide us through,” Souza said.

“So we were just wondering how can you connect with people who have the same interests in an easy way?” Sellmer said.

Thus was born the Neighbor App, a personalized way to connect with those around you and enjoy local experiences together.

After coming up with the idea, the pair thought what better place to present it than through Nebraska Wesleyan’s annual pitch competition.

Some professors at the university started the competition nearly a decade ago, hoping to attract all kinds of students.

“What we wanted to do is get more and more students on campus, not just business majors but science and other liberal arts things, thinking about how to be an entrepreneur, which is really saying, how do I take an idea and go someplace with it?” Professor of Professional Studies James Perry said.

Souza and Sellmer competed through three phases individually, setting their Neighbor App aside to solve problems for Nebraska Wesleyan’s campus.

Sellmer was an economics major, but as a biology major, this was a new challenge for Souza.

“Throughout the process I just wanted to do my best to present and challenge myself to try a new thing,” Souza said.

After both placing in the top 10 of the competition, they rejoined forces to take the Neighbor App to the international NGAL competition.

Nebraska Wesleyan is one of five universities in the world that competes, with students spending one week of the two week competition in the country of Estonia.

It’s an experience Professor of Chemistry Jodi Ryter says is priceless for these students.

“The experience they get in this cultural and entrepreneurial immersion is one of a kind,” Ryter said.

With support from professors like Ryter and Perry, the team came in third place overall at the competition.

Now, they are working toward making the Neighbor App a reality, and expanding it to a global level.

“It would be helpful for people like us, students, or even expand it worldwide, because its not just something you need in the U.S., Brazil, you need it in the whole world,” Sellmer said.

The app is currently in the demo phases, and Sellmer and Souza say they’re actively working on the patent.

They hope to have the Neighbor App in the app store in the near future.