After a long day of AP classes and high school activities, Trevor Wilson returns home to work as the CEO and head software engineer for his company Focal Demographics. With the help of a few of his classmates, the Penn-Trafford senior has created a software that analyzes correlations between political ideology and demographics in our country, revolutionizing political science education while proving that it is never too early to pursue your passion.
Focal Demographics is a political science and statistics software that takes data from both of these fields and compiles it into a visual format that is easy to understand. After seeing the barriers of virtual learning through the pandemic, Wilson decided to use his knowledge in coding and web development to create his company.
“Our team has a goal to ease [online learning] in both political science and statistics classrooms by creating a platform that can be easily integrated into many different types of curriculum,” Wilson stated.
The website provides maps with a county-by-county breakdown of statistics from topics like religion, education, income, employment and crime rates across the United States. The company plans on releasing Version 2.0 of the website, which will feature five more correlations and two new tools.
“I can’t give too many details on Version 2.0 yet because we want to get everyone excited to watch the livestream of our launch on YouTube on April 1,” Wilson said.
He is working with eight other P-T students: Tyler Campbell, Nick Chesky, Mason Cenci, Josh Kapcin, Dylan Armstrong, Ryan Donnelly, Jack Baughman and Ben Karazsia.
“Without my colleagues, our company would never be as great as it is today,” Wilson said.
Campbell, who works as the Chief Political Analyst, observes political data and makes correlations between events such as Coronavirus statistics and election results. Armstrong and Donnelly also help develop new ideas and find information needed for the website.
“When we have meetings with different companies or even just among ourselves, everyone understands their role and things run smoothly,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to balance everyone’s schedules, but all of us knowing each other and being flexible helps us to stay on track and keep moving forward.”
Wilson credits his father, who is a Chief Information Officer at Point Park University, for his talent in software development. Wilson stated “his expertise in computers has led me to become extremely successful at coding and end-user specialty alike.”
As for balancing high school and managing a company, Wilson said that one of his favorite quotes is “If you can’t find time, make it.”
“Believe it or not, a lot of my development is done between the hours of 1 and 4 a.m., as school work and extracurriculars consume a lot of my day,” Wilson stated. He said that he enjoys the tedious work, as his passion is to make education as progressive and innovative as possible, hoping that every political science and statistics student can utilize his software.
Wilson added that he has experienced backlash from many people, including his peers, since the creation of the software. He stated “building something great is never going to be easy, and you are going to have to overcome much adversity to be successful.” He encourages people to use his story as inspiration.
“If you’re doing something you love, keep doing it, and never stop,” he added.
Carleigh Bruno, Staff Writer