As the long and exhausting day draws out, students quickly open up tpstime.com and check the duration of the class they’re stuck in. They can thank sophomore James Hawley for this helpful website.
Hawley said alumni Ricky Woodruff made an app similar to TPS Time. Woodruff’s popular app was taken off due to a system change, which then sparked an idea for Hawley’s 20-time project.
“In eighth grade, for my 20-time project, I actually tried to remake the app and I didn’t finish,” Hawley said. “Then in 10th grade, I finished up the project. So it’s pretty cool.”
The web page itself has many unique features. A color-changing feature is present as different colors start and end for each class period. Hawley added a hack to turn the web page into an app by going to “share” and adding it to your home screen.
Originally, there was only an upper school schedule, but later on Hawley made a middle school schedule to expand his website even more. To make it easier for students, without even clicking on the website, you can see the time left on the tab. Despite the fact that Hawley said he has no experience in building websites, he didn’t find it very difficult.
“Once you have the basics down, you can pretty much make whatever you want,” Hawley said.
Although looking at the time all day could be boring, Hawley strongly believes that students need something to finish the day strong and, naturally, to keep an eye on the time.
“It’s just a nifty thing that helps people throughout the day,” Hawley said. “And it gives some people something to look forward to during the process.”
Freshman Misha Choudry uses the website quite often. She heard about the website from other classmates, and she tends to look at it on block days when class periods are longer.
“It really helps me manage my time during classes,” Choudry said.
Trinity uses the regular schedule mostly throughout the school year. However, there are also special “A” day schedules used for events like pep rallies or the lunch on the lawn. Hawley plans to update the website for days like these. Additionally, he is developing an app that will link your Veracross account among many other updates to come.
“I’m trying to work on an app that will do a lot more and maybe even connect it to your Veracross account,” Hawley said. “So it’ll give you exactly what class you have next. And if there’s any special schedules… or even if it’s just you that has an early dismissal, it’ll put that on there.”
Hawley may have to take down his website soon due to security reasons, but Trinity students thoroughly enjoyed using it to keep an eye on the time.
