This might change for Whitmill, after she and two former MSU students develop a mobile app to help make it easier for students and morning commuters.

The app, called Routebook, would gather information such as weather, live traffic and bus schedules and compile the fastest route.

Whitmill, along with alumna Stephanie Sundheimer and Amanda Michels, a former student who has since transferred to Grand Valley State University, came up with the idea as a class project. They later decided to submit the app idea to Start Garden, an investment group that gives money to people to help develop ideas.

Start Garden gives out investments of $5,000 twice a week to one investment the company selects and one the public votes to select. Whitmill, Sundheimer and Michels won the public vote for the funding.

Sundheimer said the project still is in its development phase, and the group is working to prove there is widespread interest in the app to receive more money.

“It’s forced us to actually work on it more than we probably would have if we didn’t have that grant,” she said.

In the class, students were asked to present their ideas to a panel of experts, said William Hart-Davidson, an associate professor in the department of Writing, Rhetoric and American Culture who taught Whitmill’s class.

“We’re always thrilled when (the students) see the potential in their own work and take that next step,” he said.