Snails Win Shark Tank

Today we're excited to celebrate two Snails that became sharks...Shark Tank winners, that is! Eesha Viswanathan '27 and Varsha Ayala '27 were recently named the first place innovators in the Fairfax County Shark Tank Tech Challenge. The Shark Tank Challenge is an annual competition for Fairfax County, Fairfax City, and Falls Church City students. The participants are challenged to create an innovative device or app that will have a positive impact on the lives of older adults or adults with disabilities.

In addition to winning the Tech Challenge, Varsha and Eesha were recently invited to speak about their new app on the Tech Talk segment of DC News Now, hosted by Tosin Fakile. Enjoy the interview below and then read on to hear more from these inventive students.

Please introduce yourselves.

EV: I’m Eesha Viswanathan, a sophomore day student from Herndon, VA. I’m one of the co-founders and part of leadership for the Madeira DECA Club, I’m on Madeira’s VEX robotics team, and I’m a part of Madeira Dance Company.

VA: Hi, I'm Varsha Ayala, a sophomore day student from Great Falls, VA. I participate in dance, art, violin, Girl Scouts, SASA, APIA, and more. I am the club co-president of DECA and I run a non-profit organization out of school with my brother.

How did preparing for the competition align with your coursework and other activities?

VA: I think preparing for the competition definitely helped with writing, coding, computer science, and public speaking. We had to write many essays to get past each round, used coding and computer science to create the app, and used public speaking skills to present in front of judges.

EV: I’ll be honest, it was pretty busy. I had some really late nights, and I’m so glad it all paid off!

Tell us a bit about your winning design. What inspired you to create such a device?

EV: Varsha and I developed a patient wearable that allows EMS personnel to quickly access patient medical information. Both Varsha and I live with our grandparents. They served as our inspiration as other seniors like them could greatly benefit from a wearable like this.

VA: In 2021, when my grandfather was battling liver cirrhosis, he had a medical emergency at home. My older brother called 911, and when the EMTs arrived, they asked several questions about my grandfather’s medical information. Fortunately, we had all the data handy in a file, but I couldn’t help but wonder—what if this had happened to someone living alone? So that’s why we created RAPIDx: Rapidly Assisting Paramedics in Individual Data Xtraction. Our solution is Near-Field Communication and QR-code-enabled patient wearables. Patients can enter their medical information through the RAPIDx app and scan it to their pendant. In emergencies, the EMT personnel simply scan the pendant and access all the entered data, reducing retrieval times from 8 minutes to just 8 seconds with RAPIDx.

Were there any particularly challenging moments throughout the process? How about any triumphant ones?

EV: We had many different ideas to enter in this competition, and it was quite difficult to choose just one. Even when we chose the idea that we finally went with, we added and removed ideas as we built the product.

VA: One challenge we encountered was actually coding the app since neither of us is a high-profile coder. However, after watching a series of videos and looking through online help forums, we successfully coded RAPIDx.

So, what's next for you? Will you pursue further development of this current project and/or set about creating something new?

VA: Our next steps include partnering with Electronic Health Record systems like MyChart to ensure seamless transfer of medical information straight from the doctors' records. We hope to expand to nearby counties if RAPIDx is successful in Fairfax County.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

EV: Our pitch video will be posed on the Fairfax County website and also on YouTube soon. I hope it inspires others to participate in the competition!

Photos courtesy of Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services.

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