New Idea: Yelp for Teachers
Alum Returns to City College to Show off Field Trip Planning Startup
by Brian Kearney
Teachers struggle to plan field trips. That’s why entrepreneur and City College alum Angela Choi decided to do something about it. She visited her alma mater recently to speak about field trip planner Frip, a startup company she co-founded.
Frip lets teachers organize field trips in a convenient and timely manner. Choi experienced the dilemmas that come with planning student outings firsthand, as an elementary school teacher in Washington Heights. “I can just book a ticket to the [Dominican Republic] in ten minutes,” she explained, “but it takes teachers almost six hours to plan one field trip.”
Choi’s app serves as a “booking agent” for teachers, and presents them with a wide variety of venues. When a teacher finds a field trip students might like, Frip handles the coordination and payment of the trip. Additionally, educators can rate venues they and their students have visited. “Teachers can share lesson plans, share ideas, and past experiences,” Choi explained during a demonstration of the app. “Similar to Yelp, where you see reviews- we wanted to make something like that for teachers.”
Choi founded Frip with friend Moustafa Elshaabiny, a fellow City College graduate with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. Together they applied to the Zahn Innovation Center, a startup incubator at City College that provides startup companies with guidance and opportunity. The Zahn Center awarded Frip a total $16,000, including $5,000 in second place prize money and a $1,000 prize in a fan favorite competition.
Frip wants to rethink the future of field trips through community research and working with local businesses to offer new and unique ideas to teachers. The app features sites like Harlem Grown, an urban farming nonprofit, and The African Burial Ground, which may not be on teachers’ radar. Choi sees field trips as a valuable and core part of the educational process. “Not every student learns the same way,” she says. “Field trips spark student’s interests and let them pursue their dreams.”
Frip is currently in its beta stage, getting tested with select private and charter schools. The young entrepreneurs hope to have a free mobile app available for Apple phones by the end of this year. Long term, they wish to expand beyond New York City to similar sprawling urban school districts such as Los Angeles and Chicago.
The startup is still pursuing investors within the edtech industry. Choi feels optimistic about Frip’s future, while also keeping expectations realistic. “We’re just trying to help teachers find cool field trips,” she said. “We’re not projecting billions of dollars in revenue. The value is that you’re helping students and educating them for life.”
