Clark Students Place Third in Massachusetts Protothon Competition
Aryadeep Ray, an undergraduate double majoring in Finance and Data Science through the School of Business, and Rishabh Sethi, a master’s student in Data Science through the School of Professional Studies, placed third among fifty teams in the state-wide Protothon Competition held at Northeastern University.
Protothon is a multi-step competition whereby students develop innovative product solutions to real-world problems. Having been encouraged by Ray’s finance professor, Dr. David Tang, to be proactive in seeking out competitions, the two “thought Protothon would be a good opportunity for us to get exposure in the product management space.”
As Ray and Sethi focused on identifying a meaningful challenge to address, they landed on an issue many students experience: access to resources for students with disabilities. To better understand the problem, the team conducted market research, speaking with students from both Clark and Northeastern about their experiences navigating student support options.
Their solution was an app called Claro, which is designed to simplify how students with disabilities access academic accommodations.
“Claro is a Latin word derived from Clarus which means ‘clarity’ or ‘clear’”, Ray explained. “We essentially created an easy pipeline that connects students with disabilities, DAS (Disability Access Services) or Student Accessibility Services, and professors into one unified system, eliminating the student as the manual middleman between disconnected offices.”
Students complete an onboarding process through Canvas where they can describe their disability and upload documentation. The app then creates a permanent “accommodation passport” that stays with them throughout their academic career. Each semester, information is automatically sent to appropriate campus services and staff, with professors and other offices, such as housing, only seeing student needs relevant to their areas. “One tap from the student triggers everything,” Ray added.
The students feel Claro can also help students discover support options they may not know existed. Universities such as Clark offer dozens of possible accommodations; however, often only a small number are used by students. A discovery tool on the app can map a student’s needs with the entirety of the college’s available resources to help ensure they receive the right support. The app also includes an anonymous review feature allowing students to share feedback on the effectiveness of the services.
“To come in third among fifty teams is something we are proud of,” the students agreed. “And if this app can someday help other students, that would be even better.”
