Leahy makes snapchat even more geo-friendly

When+senior+Patrick+Leahy+isnt+creating+app+features%2C+he+enjoys+spending+time+with+friends.+

courtesy of Patrick Leahy

When senior Patrick Leahy isn’t creating app features, he enjoys spending time with friends.

Hinsdale has always possessed a sense of pride and uniqueness. This April, an addition to a popular phone application, Snapchat, put that on display.

Patrick Leahy, senior, saw the Snapchat geofilters – labels available for pictures in certain areas – available at different locations and wanted to create one for Hinsdale.

“I saw that snapchat unveiled ‘community geofilters’ and I wanted to make one myself,” Leahy said. “I came up with the idea because Hinsdale is a classy [and expensive] place so I tried to make the filter give that sort of a vibe.”

Although the process seems like a tall task because of the app’s prominence and value across the world, Leahy wasn’t overwhelmed.

“The process is fairly simple if you know what you are doing. They give you certain guidelines and restrictions and then you can go to work with any vector program,” Leahy said. “I submitted it in December and it was approved in April.”

When the filter was finally accepted by Snapchat, Leahy saw his work from months prior on display.

“It feels awesome. I was with my volleyball team on the way to a game and my friend Kian Peterson just swiped left on his Snapchat and there it was. Soon enough, it was on everyone’s story,” Leahy said.

Leahy, a Clarendon Hills Middle School graduate and involved student section member, also submitted filters for those as well.

“I created one for Clarendon Hills that said ‘The Hills’, as well as another one that was red at the bottom of the screen that said ‘Red Devil Nation,” Leahy said. “They were both denied in February because the designated area to have them was too small.”

But Leahy is excited to see the Hinsdale Central geo-filter up and running and looks forward to creating additional app features.