diff --git a/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md b/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9d57e76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Contributing to Ithaca Transit Backend
+👍🎉 First off, congrats on getting put on this pod 😂🎉👍
+
+The following is a set of guidelines for contributing to our backend. These are mostly guidelines, not rules. Use your best judgment, and feel free to propose changes to this document in a pull request.
+
+# Versioning
+This is _extremely_ important as handling our backend can get quite messy.
+
+# Making PRs
+We want our PRs to be concise but informative. Some pointers as per our PR template:
+### Title
+Summarize what changes you've made in one sentence. For example: "Exclude staff from the check for follows". For stacked PRs, please indicate clearly in the title where in the stack you are. For example: "[Eatery Refactor][4/5] Converted all files to MVP model."
+### Overview
+Summarize generally what the purpose of this PR is.
+### Changes
+Include details of what your changes actually are and how it is intended to work.
+### Test Coverage
+Describe how you tested this feature: manual testing and/or unit testing. Please include repro steps and/or how to turn the feature on if applicable. In the context of this repo, add a plan for how you intend to test on [integration](https://github.com/cuappdev/integration), with your newly created issue linked.
+### Next Steps
+If this applies, describe how you plan on addressing future PRs if this is a part of a multi-PR change.
+### Related PRs or Issues
+If this applies, list related PRs against other branches or repositories.
+
diff --git a/.github/pull_request_template.md b/.github/pull_request_template.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a2b0719
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/pull_request_template.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+## Overview
+
+
+## Changes Made
+
+
+## Test Coverage
+
+
+## Next Steps
+
+
+## Related PRs or Issues
+
+
+## Screenshots
+<img src="image url here" width="300"/>
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diff --git a/src/utils/helpers.py b/src/utils/helpers.py
index e69de29..657bd17 100644
--- a/src/utils/helpers.py
+++ b/src/utils/helpers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import requests
+from PIL import Image
+from io import BytesIO
+from collections import Counter
+
+BASE_URL = "https://dxbhsrqyrr690.cloudfront.net/sidearm.nextgen.sites/cornellbigred.com"
+
+def get_dominant_color(relative_path, white_threshold=200, black_threshold=50):
+    image_url = f"{BASE_URL}{relative_path}"
+    
+    response = requests.get(image_url)
+    image = Image.open(BytesIO(response.content)).convert("RGBA")
+    
+    image = image.resize((50, 50))
+    image = image.quantize(colors=5).convert("RGBA")
+    pixels = image.getdata()
+
+    filtered_pixels = [
+        pixel for pixel in pixels 
+        if not (pixel[0] > white_threshold and pixel[1] > white_threshold and pixel[2] > white_threshold) and
+           not (pixel[0] < black_threshold and pixel[1] < black_threshold and pixel[2] < black_threshold)
+    ]
+
+    if filtered_pixels:
+        pixel_count = Counter(filtered_pixels)
+        dominant_color = pixel_count.most_common(1)[0][0]
+    else:
+        dominant_color = (0, 0, 0)
+
+    return dominant_color
+
+dominant_color = get_dominant_color('/images/logos/Princeton_Tigers.png?width=80&height=80&mode=max')
+print(f"Dominant color: {dominant_color}")
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