Lazaridis grad Elena Galluzzo presents app to Apple CEO as distinguished winner of Apple Swift Student Challenge

July 30, 2024

Wilfrid Laurier University graduate Elena Galluzzo was recently chosen by Apple as a distinguished winner in the annual Apple Swift Student Challenge – a competition that invites the top 50 student coders from around the world to its California headquarters.   

Galuzzo graduated from the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics in spring 2024 with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree.  

The app she used her coding skills to create, Care Capsule, is designed as an assistant for older adults. The app includes a chatbot that analyzes interactions to determine if a user is experiencing loneliness or depression and can track medications, connect users with community resources, and keep a record of positive memories. 

Galluzzo grew up with her parents, sister and maternal grandparents outside of Toronto. Her grandmother has lived with Alzheimer’s since she was a child and Galluzzo says that served as her inspiration for Care Capsule.  

“I thought creating an app to address challenges that older adults face would be a good opportunity to combine my passions,” says Galluzzo. “Then my mom told me about the contest and that’s when I decided to build Care Capsule.” 

Each year, Apple selects 350 students who represent the best in student coding as part of the Apple Swift Student Challenge. This year, the company introduced the distinguished winner category to recognize 50 students for their innovation, creativity, social impact, or inclusivity. 

 Galluzzo and her fellow distinguished winners travelled to California to participate in three days of events during Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. During her time there, Galluzzo had the opportunity to meet other student developers from around the world who shared her passion for using software to solve challenges. 

The best part of the experience for Galluzzo? Providing Apple CEO Tim Cook a personal demonstration of Care Capsule. 

“The first morning that we demoed to Tim Cook, I was so surprised because we didn't get much information beforehand,” says Galluzzo. “I was just going with the flow and there were media interviews. I had never experienced anything like this before.” 

Galluzzo and her fellow winners were also given VIP seats to the Apple World Wide Developers Conference keynote at the company’s Apple Park headquarters. 

“It was really cool to watch the keynote live,” she says. “We were all inspired by the new announcements and started talking about what we could try out next. Everyone there shared this common interest and language. It was so easy to connect with people and I made a lot of friends with students from around the world.” 

Developing ideas, solving challenges 

Galluzzo says she was inspired to start coding during her BBA courses, noting that the Lazaridis program focuses on developing business ideas to solve challenges. While many students seek opportunities to build a business to tackle a challenge, Galluzzo decided to try her hand at creating an app. 

“There are a lot of ideas that come up throughout the span of the BBA program,” she says. “Sometimes those pitches involve an app and I thought it would be cool to learn how to build one myself. It was a lot of fun, especially the math.” 

One thing set Galluzzo apart from many of her counterparts in the Apple Swift Student Challenge: she only started learning how to code in January 2023. Galluzzo comes from a family of technology professionals and says her family members were persistent in encouraging her to pursue coding. 

“I always said ‘no.’ I had to gain interest in it myself, which is what happened last year,” she says. “Then I realized, ‘Oh, maybe I should have listened to them a while ago.’ 

“I started learning on my own, but then I found I enjoyed it so much that I enrolled to complete a computer science minor. I coded most of the app on my laptop in the Concourse at the beginning of my last semester. I found the noise helped me concentrate.” 

Galluzzo says she had no intention of winning the app development contest. She simply wanted an opportunity that would help hone her development skills while addressing a challenge close to her heart. 

“There are 350 regular winners and then 50 distinguished winners. It was a huge surprise when I found out. I could never have predicted everything that happened afterwards because it has been a wild ride,” she says with a laugh. 

Galluzzo’s recognition highlights the importance of coding skills in today’s workforce, as well as the fact that it’s never too late to get started. 

“I'm surprised I didn’t enter this world earlier,” Galluzzo says. “I feel like it should have been obvious. It took a while for me to realize my interest in this work, but since I did I've been hyper-focused on it. I’m planning on pursing a software development career after graduation and I’ll keep working on my own projects to help people face aging with more resilience.” 

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Learn more about opportunities available to Lazaridis School Bachelor of Business Administration students.