- Front Page
- News
- HCC Students Design Websites for Two County…
HCC Students Design Websites for Two County Nonprofit Organizations
Haywood Community College’s Web Markup and Scripting class recently unveiled two web pages designed by students for two Haywood County nonprofit organizations. Representatives of Spotlights Youth Theatre and REACH of Haywood County were both presented the designs by a blended class of traditional students and Haywood Early College students.
“Everybody’s brought something to the table,” explains Tim Burke, instructor for the class. “They even researched some of the concepts themselves.” He directed the students to take pride but not total ownership in the projects to allow the nonprofits input in the outcome. Burke says this type of project is a great way to give students experience in working with clients.
The students that worked on the Spotlights website knew the site needed to be fun and colorful coming from a kid’s point of view. Through the use of a marquee that can be changed, the homepage is always fresh announcing upcoming performances. A member’s only section of the design will allow participants to chat with each other online. The website will be maintained by a Spotlights youth board member.
Christopher Pressley, HCC Networking Technology student, participated in Spotlights as a youth. “Spotlights meant so much to me. It built up my confidence. I’m glad to be able to do something to give back,” he says.
Bebe Abel, Executive Director of Spotlights expressed her appreciation. “I just want to say thank you to the college. We have had our performances here for 15 years. It is just a great place.”
The representatives from REACH of Haywood County were equally appreciative. “This website will help a lot of people,” says Susan Macon. “It’s another way to get information out there. A lot of people don’t even know we exist. This will increase awareness.”
REACH is an outreach program to aid victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. The services are free of charge. About 1500 people are helped by REACH per year in Haywood County.
Special features designed by the students for REACH include an escape button for users. If a user is seeking help and someone walks into the room, they simply have to click on the REACH logo to be immediately linked to Google. The website also features warning signs of abuse, how to make donations, and a wish list for the organization.
For Maggie Reich, HCC Networking Technology student, this project was a great learning experience for Haywood Early College students as well as traditional students. “This provides real life job aspects for us. It was really a benefit for the two groups of students to work together.”
HCC Computer Information Technology student, Wesley Ponton explains the new website to Spotlights Youth Theatre representatives. HCC students designed the website for the nonprofit, as well as one for REACH of Haywood County.
