Written By: Sakura Snyder, Staff Writer
INNOVATIVE: Minga becomes fully fused into the schoolwide system as students express their enjoyment of its perks.
First, Enriching Students. Then, FiveStar. In the past couple of years, there has been an array of different changes to the official Poly management platform. However, after countless glitches and complaints about the unreliability of these platforms, as well as the difficulty of adapting to these systems, students were beginning to grow tired of the rapid switches. Just as their wariness was amplified, students were met with an entirely new app—Minga. With its easily accessible interface, ability to utilize student identification cards, and most importantly, highly praised point system, Minga has quickly gained popularity amongst both the student and administrative body, shining high above its predecessors.
This transformation was not overnight. Before the platform was officially approved as a school-mandated software system, it had to run through many different tests and, of course, the board. Kyle Rodillas (12), ASB president, was one of the main proponents of Minga coming to life—more specifically, the reward system. “It was my junior year when we were trialing the point system,” he explains. After seeing the initial response to this system on FiveStar and acknowledging it as a solid starting point, he and other coordinators finally switched into Minga.
After Minga was implemented, students seemed to seamlessly adapt to the structure of the platform. Kinah Barajas (12) believes that the point system “make[s] people want to go to events or check in more often.” By being able to keep track of the number of points that one has, a sense of friendly competition and community has successfully brewed on campus. The point system has proven to be a great addition for Barajas and many other students, including Kaitlyn Aguayo (11). “I think [Minga is] really cool because we can get points for stuff, and it’s very useful,” Aguayo asserts. Minga provides students with a clear incentive to go to events that they might have otherwise not attended before, resulting in a positive trend of participation overall.
Though Juliet Zaragoza (12) admits that in the beginning she was questioning the switch from Enriching Students, she now proudly claims that she “really appreciates Minga.” One of the reasons that Zaragoza has grown so fond of the platform, outside of the point system, is because of its convenient student ID feature. “When I leave my student ID [at home], I can still scan it, so I don’t have to be carrying it everywhere,” she explains. This means that students can still gain access to certain school events without their physical ID on hand, which is greatly convenient. Overall, the integration of Minga has proven its worth for the students so far at Poly. The app’s future looks bright.