This year, Poly honored the third annual Shark Tank tradition with an assembly on March fifth consisting of three niche ideas pitched to five “sharks.” This years sharks were Shark Tank 2024 winner Stavroula Gabriel ‘25, Student government representative Jack Bogner ‘25, Chair of the English department Peter Nowakoski, and teachers Carmelo Larose and Stephan Bates. Students who chose to participate submitted a form summarizing their idea/plan, much like the traditional shark tank one can watch on TV. Students had to consider factors such as how their idea would help the Poly community and how they would execute it. 

This past assembly had three pitches: Mirō, by Sasha Gilyadoff ’26, Phone Buddy by Gordon Hoffman and Jack Rootenberg ’25, and PolyTransitTrack by Charlotte Kuchinad and Olivia Sperling ’26. Mirō was a high-quality fashion boutique that would be in the West Village, Phone Buddy was a phone case that would charge your phone, and PolyTransitTrack provided an alternate way to track buses and communicate with people who are on the same route as you. 

After careful consideration by the Poly Sharks, PolyTransitTrack was announced the winner! 

After reflecting on their idea, Kuchinad and Sperling said that it was inspired by their “own experiences taking the bus to school” as both students find themselves getting caught in city traffic and arrive late to school as a result. They hope to make mornings less “stressful and unproductive” by providing a way for students, teachers and parents to monitor their bus, allowing families to plan accordingly in terms of traffic and their students’ transport. 

The app allows students to not only track their bus, but also “update each other on bus changes,” creating a sense of community between students, making “bus rides more than just transportation”. The app aims to make communication smoother for teachers and students alike: notifying both parties when buses will be late. While this is a plus, the Poly sharks had a question about how they would ensure that communication between students would adhere to the Poly code of conduct. Kuchinad and Sperling replied by saying that there would be filters on the app, but for the most part, students are trusted to uphold their part of the code.

Kuchinad and Sperling are open to meeting with the Poly tech department to discuss ways to progress this idea and “make PolyTransitTrack real!”