NCU student creates app to help students excel

Fourth-year Northern Caribbean University (NCU) student James Barrett knows what it feels like to stare at an exam paper and draw a blank.

Now, he's built an app to make sure other students don't have to go through the same thing. Barrett, 23, walked away from the Sagicor Foundation Scholarship Awards at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel yesterday with the Chairman's Technology and Innovation Award, valued at $500,000, for creating an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered app.

"The aim of this app is to help students apply the concepts they have learnt in class to their exam questions, to be their guide 24/7 because teachers can't be with students all day," he said. The idea came from his own academic struggles, dating back to high school.

"I remember I was in class memorising the formulas for physics and mathematics. However, when it came to put pen to paper, I realised that I struggled," Barrett recalled. "Many students were having the same issue, and it reflected in their grades. This continued into sixth form, and that was the breaking point."

Determined to solve the problem, Barrett learnt mobile app development during the COVID-19 pandemic. The result is I Learn AI, which is expected to be officially launched in September.

"Because this was a personal problem of mine, the idea is a very passionate one," he said. "It gives me the fuel and the air to push through."

But getting to this point wasn't easy.

"Truth be told, I had to take a gap year to work at a call centre before I came to NCU because of the financial struggles," he admitted. "When the time came to apply, I could hardly find $100,000 to fund it. It was less than that, way less. With the guidance of my parents and my sisters, they pushed me to still apply and have faith in God and look where I've reached now."

He said the $500,000 scholarship will go a long way - towards his tuition, dorm and boarding.

"Two weeks ago, I was praying about the school fee. I went on my knees and started looking at ways I could get scholarships and different opportunities," he said.

Barrett's proud father described him as "very enthused about learning" and said the app grew from a genuine desire to help students after seeing regional exam results.

"He created an app that can help students to boost their grades. If you know about me, you will see something about James in me - quiet, no trouble and that's why I gave him the name James Jr," said the elder Barrett.

The Sagicor Foundation awarded 27 tertiary students scholarships valued at $300,000 each, and recognised outstanding achievers with special awards. Among them was Calicia Vassel, 23, from Westmoreland, who took home the R Danny Williams Visionary Award for leadership and volunteerism.

"I am shocked, particularly because of the nature of the award for volunteerism," Vassel said. "Awards are really immaterial to me. I did the work quietly behind the scenes [and] I see the results, the impact and that's the true award for me."

Barrett, meanwhile, hopes his AI app will inspire other young innovators.

"I see a bright future for Jamaicans in technological advancement and I see where AI is going to play a fundamental part in shaping the lives of Jamaicans."