Because an already busy Penn State Harrisburg student refused to wait, a local youth baseball organization has a vastly improved web presence.
Embodying Penn State Harrisburg’s extensive outreach and service commitment to the community, Information Sciences and Technology students in Assistant Professor Information Systems Roderick Lee’s classes frequently undertake projects which pair the expertise they have gained in their studies to address an expressed need from business, industry, or organizations in the area.
Midway through the spring semester, Lee was approached by board members of the local Pleasant Hill–Ridgeview youth baseball organization seeking assistance in developing a vastly expanded web site. Lee explained that it would fit perfectly as one of his class projects, and that he could approach students to undertake the project during the fall semester.
In a conversation with student Kelsey Kerr, a resident of Hummelstown, Lee explained the request and thought she may consider it for fall. But the Hummelstown resident "didn’t want to wait to help the baseball group" and offer to gather a team of students to tackle the project immediately " as an out–of–class volunteer project. Finding time in her busy schedule which includes maintaining a 4.0 grade–point average and studies in the college’s Honors Program, Kerr took on the task of project manager and gathered a team of five volunteer classmates to develop the new web look for the organization.
"I was more than willing to donate my time to help the baseball association revamp their site. I was also excited to get more experience working with a real-world client," Kerr states. "Dr. Lee had students Josh Williams, Elise Williams, and Brett Schaffer who were interested in helping out with content for the site. I recruited Daryl Hechanova to do the design and layout and Ryan Strohm to assist with technical aspects."
Working on an almost daily basis with the board members, Kelsey and her student team were able to receive immediate feedback on their work "which made it much easier to complete the project."
Lee notes, "The former web site was very plain and had no graphics, just text files. The student creation is much more comprehensive, attractive, and user–friendly. It includes action and team photos, rosters, schedules, results, instructions for coaches, and even directions to ball fields"
