Community

It’s a necessity many of us dread, especially right now — grocery shopping has never taken more strategy or time.

With the current need for social distancing, a more challenging environment for grocery stores and shortages in some essential supplies, a Waterloo professor and PhD student are hoping to save you unnecessary trips to the store.

Cue What’s in Stock — a platform that uses crowdsourced data to notify users of supply levels at their local grocery stores.

During these weeks of self-isolation and physical distancing, it’s important to find positive moments in daily life.

As Waterloo alumni all over the world stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, we asked them to share the small moments that bring them joy. From ice cream to video calls with family, we hope you find some comfort and inspiration in these messages from others in the UWaterloo community.

We’re all in this together.

A pair of Waterloo alumni are helping families deliver math in a fun and engaging way.

Prodigy Game, developed by two University of Waterloo Engineering grads, has filled the resource gap for building math skills and confidence, especially during the present school-year interruption due to COVID-19.

COVID-19 has seen the world retreating indoors. Restrictions on travel, physical interaction and social gathering has resulted in reduced pollution levels and improved air quality around the world — but for how long?

Kayras Engineer

April 19 to 25 is National Volunteer Week, a time to recognize volunteers for all that they do.

More than 90 long-term care homes in Ontario are suffering an outbreak of COVID-19.

Parents looking for educational resources for their kids have turned to Prodigy, a company created by Waterloo alumni Rohan Mahimker (BASc ’11) and Alexander Peters (BASc ’11).

Their role-playing game by the same name serves over 50 million students in grades 1 through 8, or about 25 per cent of kids in North America. Players create avatars that battle monsters in a magical world, defeating their adversaries by solving math problems.

University students who have been anticipating their graduation — complete with celebrations, final recitals and capstone project presentations — are struggling with the abrupt end to campus activity as a result of COVID-19 closures. 

The setback prompted Mykayla Turner, who has called Conrad Grebel University College a second home during her time studying health studies and music at the University of Waterloo, to record her year-end recital in the Grebel Chapel. 

Flatten.ca, a web-based, data-gathering platform co-developed by ten Waterloo students, is gaining national attention. Launched at the end of March, participating students volunteer their time to help track and monitor COVID-19 outbreaks across the country. The app helps increase awareness and flatten the curve in the spread of COVID-19