Being new to the Mississippi State University Bulldog community can present its directional challenges—especially in light of the growing campus and possible unfamiliarity of the specific locations of buildings. However, one Electrical Engineering student has created an IOS app that he hopes will ease directional woes on campus, and provide campus transit and athletic schedule convenience.
Four months ago, Oakland, Mississippi native and MSU Senior Terence Williams began working on a campus GPS app called “Bully Walk,” seeking to provide an easier way to navigate campus.
After becoming an IOS developer for Apple in 2013, Williams said a class he took his freshman year called “iProgram” is what boosted his developmental skills.
“I took a class my freshman year called ‘iProgram,’ taught by Rodney Pearson. We learned the basics like how to make a button work on an iPhone,” Williams said. 
“Then, we were told if we wanted to take this seriously, we could sign up for the Apple Development Program,” Williams said. “So, we could sign up and pay $100 a year and submit apps to the Apple store. Once you pay $100 every year, you become a developer. You have to have the knowledge too, but that’s all it took.”
 “Bully Walk,” now available on the Apple app store, provides a GPS navigation to various buildings on MSU’s campus.
“Bully Walk is the campus app,” Williams said. “It has locations to every building on campus such as academics, eateries, residence halls and athletic facilities. When you open the app up, you will see all of this. It also has the athletic schedule of every sport at MSU and real-time transit routes.”
By selecting a desired location within the app, Williams said a route to that destination would simply load, as well as instructions.
“It will tell you how far you are, and it will also give you step-by-step directions. It does this for almost every place on campus,” he said.
Williams said “Bully Walk” will continue to be updated, and future versions will include parking zones on campus, as well as updated maps.
“People could get here and may not know where North Zone parking is,” Williams said. “When this is updated, a click in the app will show you how to get there. Because the app currently uses Apple maps, it does not update as fast a Google maps. Google maps would account for campus construction. I’m working on this right now, as well as updating the app to make sure it includes all buildings on campus.”
The new campus GPS app is not Williams’ first, as he has been an IOS app developer since 2013. Williams said he has already created seven IOS apps.
“This was my eighth app, and I started this idea (for ‘Bully Walk’) about four months ago, because I had just released an app called Milo, which basically let’s you send someone your current location and they can type a link and it will go straight to them. I said to myself, ‘well, we need this for campus because people get lost around campus all the time.’ So I started making it (Bully Walk), and I said ‘OK, this is really possible.’ I started testing myself and I knew that this would really work. I kept working for about four months on it and I made it, and now it’s on the app store.”
Williams’ previously created IOS apps include “Timster Beats,” “Color Swerve,” “TO Trivia,” “Christlike,” “Milo,” and “Parallel Dots 1 and 2.”
“My first app was called ‘Timster Beats,’ which was basically an MP3 player of the beats I used to make,” he said. “The second was a video game called ‘Color swerve.’ The next one after that was made for a guy who contacted me on Instagram from Germany (‘TO Trivia’) and the next one was ‘Christlike,’ which is actually my top app. That one is basically Christian encouragement and devotionals. It also has a Spotify playlist with Christian artists on it.”
Williams went on to explain his other app creations.
 “After the Christ like app, I made two gaming series called ‘Parallel Dots.’ It is very simple, basically, ping pong back and forth,” he said. “Then I made ‘Milo.’ That idea actually came from my wife because she’s a photographer. One day we were on campus in this big field, and we had no idea how to tell people where we were. There were no buildings and no roads, so I was unsure how we would tell them where we were. I got tired of meeting people places, so I decided to make that app (‘Milo’) that would tell you your current location.”
Williams’ apps have a total of around 7,000 downloads so far, and have been in over 50 different countries. He said “Bully Walk” will continue to be updated and improved.
“This will continue to be a process because State is always adding something different,” he said. “Android is a different language than IOS, but I will work on learning that this summer. Right now, all of my apps are for iPhone, but I know not everyone has an IPhone.”
After expressing his strong love for MSU and MSU’s Engineering Program, Williams said he might soon have an opportunity to turn his app-making skills into a business.
“I’ve been working in the Entrepreneurship office and it has been great,” he said. “They are giving me an office, so I might turn this into a business. I may actually have a development office, but there’s a process you have to go through to get registered in the state. No matter how many apps I make, it’s not about me. It’s all to glorify God. I’m not doing this for attention, but it’s all for a greater purpose. This has been an amazing experience, but I’m staying humble through it all.”