Chapman trio brings solution for study abroad isolation to the app store

Collage by Easton Clark, Photo Editor

You're thousands of miles away from home, in a different country, where you know no one. So what do you do? Turn to your phone. 

College students are increasingly studying abroad, yet many continue to struggle to make connections. A situation a trio of Chapman students hopes to address with their new app Abroad. 

Abroad requires users to sign in with an institutional email, designed to help students studying in foreign countries safely connect with others through features like live location sharing and city-based events.

Co-CEO Conner Kopischke, a senior majoring in business administration, said the group devised the idea after their individual travels. 

“All of the founders and I have been abroad, and we found a massive issue was not being able to connect with other students and not being able to connect on the same platform that was safe and student-only,” said Kopsichke. 

The start-up’s team also consists of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Harry Raftus, a 2022 Chapman alum, and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Tristan Arnovick, a junior majoring in business administration. 

Once the idea was in place, the group onboarded Jackson Galley, a product designer based in San Francisco whom Arnovick met in high school, to assist Kopischke with the app's engineering and serve as co-CEO.

“I find myself very disappointed in the way that social media has impacted society and especially younger generations,” Galley said. “The platforms that were supposed to inspire social interactions and community have fallen very short and are overrun with fake accounts and infinite scrolling. Abroad is my hope for a future of verified platforms that promote living life through healthy interactions over pixels.”

Through an interactive map, students can discover different events and activities happening around them. Users can also share their live location with selected friends to make meeting up easier and help keep track of each other while exploring new cities. 

“A huge inspiration of ours has been apps like Strava and Partiful,” said Arnovick. “While their functionality is digital, their purpose is to bring you outside, into the real world, to see people and be social.”

The app is currently in its trial phase, offering around 100 users — most of whom are from the United States — information about 12 international cities.

“We primarily prioritize European cities since a majority of students go there, but we want to make sure every single city is on there,” said Kopischke. 

Before the app's official launch in the fall, the team has plans to expand into Australia, Asia and more U.S. cities, and introduce a feature that will allow students to post their own created events and activities.

As the app inches towards its final stage, Raftus said his education at Chapman gave him the proper foundation to work on it. 

“Chapman was an incredible place to meet driven and like-minded individuals who wanted to create something for themselves,” said Raftus.

While developing, the Abroad team received mentorship from Chapman adjunct Kevin Meredith, founder of Fourth Sector Innovations. 

“The team was responsive to feedback from mentors,” Meredith said. “Being a part of a mentor-mentee relationship is not a one-way street … It’s having a relationship that’s built to understand where the team is and where they are aspiring to go.”

Meredith’s company also partners with the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship & Business Ethics to provide two unique programs: the InterPhase Incubator and Instantaneous Accelerator. 

The InterPhase Incubator — which Arnovick, Kopischke and Raftus took part in — focuses on early-stage programs to find space in the market for their ideas. The Instantaneous Accelerator prioritizes growth potential specific to the venture.

“They are really amazing programs, and they don’t cost the students anything,” said Meredith. “We don’t charge a fee, and we don’t take an equity position in any of the companies. But there is not a deep awareness that these resources exist across the entire campus community.”

However, he said there is always space for ideas and reasons to try.

“There is very little risk in trying,” Meredith said. “The resources don’t cost you anything but time and sweat equity. It’s a no-loss kind of scenario.”

Raftus echoed a similar message.

“There is no better time to start an idea than in college,” said Raftus. “Very seldom in the rest of life will you have four years of uninterrupted space and time where you can network, learn and experiment all in one place.”