Computer Science students from East Stroudsburg University recently created websites for two local non-profit organizations, one of which was “The SHELBY Project.” Under the guidance of Dr. Mary DeVito, associate professor of computer science, students also built a customized website for Monroe County’s Pocono Services for Families and Children.
“The SHELBY Project,” a local non-profit liaison with the National Eating Disorders Association needed a website to provide vital information on eating disorders. The site was also needed to help leverage efforts to electronically communicate the need for support of legislation related to raising awareness and understanding of eating disorders and mental illness. The site encourages early intervention for eating disorders to help enhance the potential to increase cure rates and improve access to care.
Thanks to ESU seniors Michael Rosol of Nazareth, Pa., Vic Chester of East Stroudsburg, Pa., Nicholas Kenney of Effort, Pa., Matt Foote and John Blazier of Brodheadsville, Pa., Brian Pechkis of Stroudsburg, Pa., Daniel Borges of Churchville, Pa., and Zachary Smith of Walnutport, Pa. The SHELBY Project’s website is up and running and can now be viewed at www.theshelbyproject.org.
ESU seniors Harold Barnes and Casey Fitzpatrick of East Stroudsburg, Pa., Joseph Iannacone of Toms River, N.J., and Pascual Ortiz of Stroudsburg, Pa., constructed a website for Monroe County’s “Pocono Services for Families and Children” (PSFC). PSFC is a non-profit organization which has provided training, education and mentoring to “at-risk” children and their families for the last thirty-five years. “At-risk” children include children who come from low income families and/or students who have language, learning, or cultural disabilities. The supportive services that PSFC offers are youth mentoring and parent education. PSFC also offers programs like Head Start, a pre-school for children from low-income families and Pre-K Counts, a pre-kindergarten program available to three and four-year-old children who live in the East Stroudsburg Area School District and are “at-risk” of school failure. Since its inception, PSFC has grown from a six week pilot educational program for 12 children on the campus of ESU to an agency now serving more than 200 children and families in comprehensive programs in three centers in Monroe County.
Computer science seniors worked with PSFC’s Mary Kay Posselli and Emily Daly, in developing the website. The site conveys information about PSFC and its programs, especially resources available to teach parenting skills to parents and information about the organization’s youth mentoring program and educational support services (e.g. Head Start and Pre-K Counts). For more information about the agency, please visit www.psfc.org.
For more information about these projects or the computer science/computer security program at ESU, contact Dr. DeVito at (570) 422-3739 or at mdevito@po-box.esu.edu.
