@yoteayudoconlasele (YAS) was a large-scale, volunteer-driven initiative created during the COVID-19 lockdown to support Spanish high-school students preparing for their university entrance exams. I was co-creator of the project and Director of IT, responsible for the technical platform and its rapid deployment at national scale.
The project emerged at a time of extreme uncertainty, when thousands of students lacked clear guidance, academic support, or access to in-person resources. In response, we built a distributed network of university students across all Spanish autonomous communities, capable of operating fully remotely and at unprecedented speed.
Mission and Scope
YAS brought together thousands of university volunteers with a single objective: help students in their final year of Bachillerato successfully navigate and pass their university entrance exams.
In just days, the initiative reached nationwide coverage, providing academic support, orientation, and reassurance to students during a critical moment in their education.
The project quickly became one of the largest student-led educational support initiatives in Spain during the pandemic.
Core Pillars
The initiative was structured around three fundamental pillars:
Platform and Infrastructure
The website, which I designed and developed, acted as the operational core of the project. It enabled students to:
- Ask academic questions
- Share and access study notes
- Attend online classes
- Discover curated learning resources
The platform had to be built and deployed under extreme time pressure, prioritizing reliability, clarity, and ease of use.
Communication and Reach
The social media presence played a critical role in both outreach and guidance:
- Dissemination of study advice and educational content
- Orientation on academic and career decisions
- Community engagement during lockdown
The Instagram account surpassed 20,000 followers in less than 48 hours, reflecting both the urgency of the need and the effectiveness of the communication strategy.
Team and Operations
Behind the scenes, a highly coordinated team of volunteers and organizers made the project possible. Scaling coordination, content creation, moderation, and support required fast decision-making and clear division of responsibilities.
Technical Leadership
As Director of IT, my responsibilities included:
- Designing and implementing the core web platform
- Ensuring scalability and stability under sudden traffic spikes
- Rapid iteration and deployment of new features
- Supporting multiple subprojects developed in parallel
This experience required balancing speed with reliability, and making pragmatic technical decisions under real-world constraints.
More information about the project can be found in the archived sections:
Subprojects
Several technical subprojects were developed as part of YAS:
-
Calculadora Sele
A web utility to help students calculate their university entrance exam scores. -
YAS Gradu
Using Python and Pillow, I generated the largest class photo ever created in Spain, combining thousands of student images into a single composition.
Media Coverage
The initiative received widespread national media coverage, highlighting both its educational impact and its rapid execution:
- RTVE — Educación y Coronavirus
- EducaWeb — “Yo te ayudo con la sele”: una iniciativa entre estudiantes para preparar la EBAU
- Start UC3M — Cómo lanzar un proyecto en cuarentena
- La Razón — Héroes de la cuarentena del coronavirus: Yo te ayudo con la selectividad
- Telva — Educación en cuarentena: los grupos de WhatsApp de padres echan chispas
Impact and Learnings
@yoteayudoconlasele remains one of the most impactful and formative projects I have worked on. It was a defining experience in learning how to:
- Build and deploy real systems under extreme time pressure
- Lead and coordinate large volunteer teams
- Make technical decisions when speed and correctness both matter
- Stay aligned with values and purpose in high-visibility projects
This project reinforced the idea that technology, when combined with leadership and clear intent, can have immediate and meaningful social impact.
