Helping send those books away

Poli Sci major creates app to help students buy and sell used textbooks

Galindo and a student at Pierce, said Galindo is doing everything he can to improve his community and break stereotypes.

project. He also didn’t have any experience in app development.

Galindo still found time to put a major focus on his studies.

A lot of people come to the United States in search of a better life. Only a few come with the intention to improve their hometown and the lives of others.

Carlos Galindo, a political science major at Pierce College and the inventor of BookAway, a mobile app for students to sell used textbooks to other students, is trying to be one of the few.

After coming from Mexico to the United States of America at the age of 13, Galindo has invested a lot in his own education while also trying to help other people at the same time.

Galindo wants to be an outlier in what he believes is a system that tries to prevent immigrants from becoming successful.

“We’re seen as people who can’t achieve great things,” Galindo said. “Why? That’s just ignorance. We have a system that is mostly designed to not let us do that. But we can achieve great things. It doesn’t matter who we are.”

He decided to major in political science with the intention to return to Mexico to fi x the problems in his community.

“I see how a lot of people are treated and I want to do something for them,” Galindo said. “I want to make sure that they’re being treated the way they should.”

Jorge Quedada, a friend of

“He’s trying to help his community,” Quedada said.

“Coming from Mexico City to the U.S. as a young adult, he had a lot of dreams and a lot of obstacles. When you’re an immigrant coming here, you encounter a lot of obstacles and I think he has a really nice mindset of getting ahead and breaking the stereotypes.”

His desire to help people was a path to his idea for BookAway. Galindo felt it is unfair that bookstores offer students a small amount of money for an expensive textbook after a few months of use.

“You know, we as students, we need that money,” Galindo said.

“I need those 50 bucks more than that bookstore. If you’re waiting for your paycheck, those 50 bucks for a book are really going to help you get through the week or a few days that you’re short for money.”

He also thought the current way of selling textbooks is too outdated for the modern age.

“We’re in the times of technology,” Galindo said. “You can connect with your family member, who lives on the other side of the world, with your phone. You can send money to them with your phone. Why should we have students suffer communicating with each other?”

So he decided to do something about it. The process was not easy and it was a time consuming

Galindo was able to get some assistance in building the app from people along the way but he learned to do most of it himself.

“I had to basically go through the process of learning how to do all the coding and all that,” Galindo said. “I got it revised by someone who helped me fi x little bugs here and there. I went through videos on Youtube, I had some friends who kind of know about this a little bit and they told me what to do, what not to do, and where to go.”

The app took about a year to make a few more months to get it published. It was approved and placed on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in June of 2018.

Galindo wants to continue developing the app and updating it with new features. He has plans to add a new feature called “Hire a nerd” for students to get tutoring from other students.

Right now, the app only works in the Los Angeles area but he wants to make it work across the United States and other countries.

“First I want to make sure I implement this project very well here in California,” Galindo said. “Then after that, I can think about making it nationwide and then also taking this project to Mexico. I’m pretty sure every college student in the world has issue. You need money and you have textbooks, but you just don’t have a way to connect with other students.”

Even while developing the app,

He is on pace to graduate Pierce with eight degrees in administration of justice, arts and humanities, criminal justice, Latin American studies, political science, Spanish, Spanish for transfer, and social behavioral sciences.

Fernando Oleas, chair of the modern language department, said he was impressed by Galindo’s interest in learning more and his involvement in the class.

“Even though he juggled his daily life with surviving and working and doing things like that, he was always on top of his game in terms of reading,” Oleas said. “And what I recall well is that he would actually buy additional books that I would mention in my class. For example, if I made a reference to a particular book that was important, he would immediately buy those books and put them on his que to read it later on.”

Quedada said his passion for whatever he does is what stands out the most about Galindo.

“He’s very passionate. Whatever he believes in, he goes for it,” Quedada said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s right or wrong. It doesn’t matter what others think. If he believes in it, he’s going to go for it regardless of what anyone says.” bwilliams.roundupnews@gmail.com