Now entering week seven, y/cs Catalyst has reached its first big milestone! A sub-organization within y/cs, Catalyst is a peer-to-peer training program, helping developers learn and solidify fundamentals of full-stack web development. In the first six weeks, catalysts have been exposed to a diverse range of topics, including HTML, Javascript, responsive design with CSS, and React. With these tools, catalysts are now equipped to build and deploy static web applications, which was highlighted with the recent submission of their personal portfolios.
The first of two projects to be completed this semester, personal portfolios were a great opportunity for catalysts to build something unique and practical—giving them a project that they can keep coming back to as their talents grow. With the short amount of time that the program has been underway, the portfolios that catalysts put together were quite impressive! Below are three highlight projects chosen from the submissions.
Nevin Dabrah
The first featured project comes from Nevin Dabrah, a freshman from Ghana in Branford College. Nevin is pursuing a degree in Computer Science and Economics and implemented a sleek, techy design for his personal website. The background features a mesmerizing moving particles component slightly reminiscent of constellations. The top of the page also features a bright, responsive progress bar that grows as the user scrolls.
Throughout the project, Nevin uses bright, neon accents, hover effects, and semi-translucent panels that all contribute to a futuristic feel. Combined, these design decisions make for a professional website with a consistent vibe. Nevin gave the following reflection about his experience so far in y/cs Catalyst:
“So far, the program has taught me a lot about front-end programming. I have improved my skills in CSS and JavaScript and have been introduced to the expansive React framework. Compared to when I entered this program, I can now create pages that are much more aesthetically pleasing and interactive than I could before!”
Check out Nevin’s full portfolio here.
Ishani Singh
The second featured portfolio belongs to Ishani Singh, a freshman from New Jersey in Saybrook College. As noted in her bio, Ishani is studying Computer Science and Linguistics at Yale and is passionate about natural language processing. Compared to Nevin’s dark and sleek aesthetic, Ishani went for a more bright and lively portfolio. At the top of the page, she creatively used a typing effect to cycle through words like “NLP Enthusiast,” “Founder,” “AI Teacher,” and more. Similarly, hover transforms and fade effects throughout the page help bring it to life.
Elements across the website are impressively responsive, such as the navbar that collapses to a hamburger menu on smaller screens. With a thoughtful design and many interactive components (such as the spinning buttons at the bottom), Ishani’s portfolio is fun and engaging to explore. Here are her thoughts on the Catalyst program:
“Through the y/cs program, I have been able to hone in on my web development skills in a small, collaborative environment. I also learned how to create animations using Framer Motion. The material is comprehensive and well-organized, and my mentor has been very helpful through this process.”
Check out Ishani’s full portfolio here.
Daniel Lee
The third and final featured project comes from Daniel Lee, a sophomore from Virginia in Timothy Dwight College studying computer science. Daniel’s portfolio is strikingly clean, complete with a fade-in effect and moving elements on page load. The code panel is a brilliantly creative, on-brand way to do an about-me, and the subtle floating of the “code compiling…” bubble lends dimension and movement to the page. Throughout the site, buttons and divs all have a sliding, sheen effect on hover, giving a glassy, polished feel.
Taking it a step further, Daniel decided to add a layer of connectivity to his portfolio, using the EmailJS package to power a contact form at the bottom of his page. Clean without sacrificing creativity and personality, Daniel’s portfolio is a testament to the striking effects that can be accomplished with simple CSS. Daniel offered the following reflection about y/cs Catalyst:
“I came into the program with some prior experience in web development, but Catalyst really helped solidify my understanding of the fundamentals. I think the program did an excellent job of reinforcing core concepts all the way from building basic website structure with HTML/CSS to adding interactivity and responsive design with JS/React.”
Check out Daniel’s full portfolio here.
Overall, we were thrilled with the progress that all catalysts displayed in their personal portfolios, and are grateful for the enthusiasm that they have brought to the program week-to-week. Moreover, a special thank-you goes out to our amazing Catalyst mentors, without whom this program would not be possible:
- Eashan Hatti
- David Antwi
- Andrew Tran
- Madhav Krishnaswamy
- Himani Kumar (Ishani’s mentor)
- Juwang Lee (Nevin’s mentor)
- Marry Kassa
- Henry Burton
- Edmundo Chavez Ramirez (Daniel’s mentor)
Lastly, thank you to our Director of Training, Andy Cheng, for spearheading the Catalyst program and all of the amazing work that goes on within it. The program has grown to nearly fifty participants this year, which is no small feat to manage!
Following their personal portfolio projects, catalysts are now moving on to learn about APIs and backend systems, which they will use to create group capstone projects. These projects will be presented at y/cs Demo Day in December, so stay tuned for more updates then!