SUNDAY INFORMER: Friendship with Veteran Inspires Award-winning AI Project for Philander Smith Students

By William Hehemann

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — A conversation with a military veteran inspired six Philander Smith University students to rethink how technology could connect generations.

The students had gathered at the home of a man they affectionately call “Baba,” a Nigerian-born U.S. military veteran who attends their church in Little Rock. He taught them how to play the traditional talking drum and shared stories from his life. As they listened, they realized older adults often possess a lifetime of wisdom and experience but may lack opportunities to share it with younger generations.

That conversation laid the foundation for Golden Link, an AI-powered platform designed to connect college students with senior citizens through shared interests, companionship and technology assistance. The team developed and refined the concept during the HBCU Founders Initiative’s Designing for Social Good Workshop at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB), where it earned first place.

“We college students want to learn from these older folks, want to have their experience and their wisdom,” said Olaoluwa James Owolabi, a rising senior computer science major at Philander Smith. “On the other hand, most of these older folks don’t have people to share stories with because there’s a bridge in the gap in technological understanding.”

The HBCU Founders Initiative’s (HBCUFI) Designing for Social Good Workshop teaches students to apply design thinking to real-world challenges. Supported by the Walton Family Foundation and Microsoft, HBCUFI uses the program to introduce students to entrepreneurship while helping them develop solutions for their communities.

The Philander Smith team’s friendship with Baba helped shape the concept behind Golden Link and the idea that younger and older generations can learn from one another.

“Just the same way Baba was teaching us how to play the talking drum, we can also teach him how to use a smartphone or we can teach him how to use a computer,” Owolabi said.

Golden Link would match students with senior citizens based on common interests, giving older adults companionship while allowing students to earn volunteer hours and gain mentors who could share life experiences, hobbies and practical wisdom.

As part of the workshop, teams had roughly two hours to identify a problem, build a working prototype and prepare a presentation after learning the principles of design thinking.

“We had about just two hours to fully build the solution,” Owolabi said.

Before building the prototype, the team interviewed students around the UAPB campus and spoke with older adults to better understand the needs the platform would address. While several teammates gathered that feedback, Emmanuella Turkson, a rising senior computer science major with a passion for user experience design, focused on ensuring the app would be simple and accessible.

“As a designer, my role was first to find out what the user needs,” Turkson said. “We had to do a lot of interviews.”

After speaking with older adults, the team recognized many seniors might struggle to download and navigate a new app independently. Instead of abandoning the idea, they redesigned Golden Link so nursing homes and senior living facilities could help residents register and begin making connections.

“It can be a great idea,” Turkson said, “but if the seniors don’t know how to use it, there’s going to be a block.”

The group also kept the interface intentionally simple, making it as intuitive as possible.

“We made sure to make it as straightforward and as simple as possible,” Turkson said. “We didn’t want people to say, ‘This is so complicated to use.’”

Artificial intelligence also played an important role in the development process. Using AI-assisted tools, the team developed an initial prototype while refining the concept throughout the competition.

“AI is helpful,” he said. “Another thing is learning how to use it in the best way.”

Building the prototype required more than technical skills – teamwork proved just as important.

Owolabi divided responsibilities according to each member’s strengths. While some students conducted interviews and gathered feedback from people around campus, others focused on engineering, interface design and the final presentation.

“Fortunately, there were no arguments,” Owolabi said. “Everyone was willing to do their job. Everyone came in prepared.”

Turkson echoed that sentiment.

“Everybody had a specific task to do,” she said, explaining that each teammate understood their role and contributed to the final product.

When Golden Link was announced as the winning project, Owolabi said the victory represented the culmination of months of hard work.

“I saw the win as the fruit of our hard work and prayers,” Owolabi said.

After previous setbacks in other competitions, the victory reinforced an important lesson: “Never let rejection stop you. Most times people aren’t rejecting you. They’re rejecting the idea.”

For HBCU Founders Initiative Founder and President Marlon Evans, projects like Golden Link reflect exactly what the workshop is designed to encourage.

“We developed the Designing for Social Good workshops to intentionally connect with students who see themselves as problem-solvers and carry a deep passion for local issues,” Evans said. “By learning design thinking, we find that attendees can ignite their entrepreneurial spark and use a human-centered mindset to build impactful businesses, created for good and rooted in real community needs.”

For the Philander Smith team, Golden Link became an opportunity to apply the design-thinking principles they learned during the workshop to a challenge they had already experienced firsthand. Inspired by conversations with Baba and refined through interviews with students and older adults, the project was designed to connect college students and senior citizens through mentorship, companionship and technology support.