SU Challenge App

By Landon Wexler – Syracuse, N.Y. (CitrusTV) – If you’ve ever wanted to scrapbook and keep track of all your memories from college, there’s now an app for that.  

An app called “Cuse Challenge” aims to encourage students to participate in all things Syracuse University tradition and culture.  It’s picking up steam rapidly on SU’s campus.  

It takes a new approach to getting students to participate.  Cuse Challenge creator Adam Peruta, an Assistant Professor at SU’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, explains the app has a gamified Instagram-esque experience.  

As of mid-September 2018, the app has over 350 users with over 500 challenges completed.

The app’s simple and visually appealing aesthetic didn’t come easily.  Peruta said the concept was originally tested at Ithaca College, where he used to profess, for two years.  

He says he and his team brought in students for focus groups to figure out, “what’s not awesome? What could be more awesome.”  After focus groups, testing and promoting the app, the student usership skyrocketed.  Until about a month ago, Peruta and his team worked to make the big unveiling at ‘Cuse possible.

During Peruta’s tests at Ithaca College, the app’s concept earned the “Best in Show” award at the Festival of Media Arts, put on by the Broadcast Education Association.  The title, Peruta says, helped pick up steam and publicity for the app.  The challenge concept is now also undergoing a launch at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The Cuse Challenge is available and free on the Apple App store now.