Serve IT Nonprofit Clinic

My name is James and I am on the Special Ops team here in ServeIT. I joined the team later than everyone else, however when I got there they all welcomed me and filled me in on what projects they were working on. I’m not the most technical person on the team by any means, but I understand a lot of  code when I look at it. Since joining my team lead has been teaching a couple of us PHP so we can know it for future projects. I’m also a really good relator and communicator. So when I started, my team lead put me on a project right away. It wasn’t anything super heavy, but I was just putting final touches and polishing up a website. I’m writing a user guide for that website so that whoever manages it at the organization can reference it when they want to make changes. I have also been put in the group that will handing over websites to organizations. I think that will be a lot of fun because it will let walk through the website with new users, making sure that they understand how it all works. This is my first semester and I plan on continuing to next semester and learning as much as I can while doing so.

This is my first semester being a part of ServeIT, and it has been one of the best experiences I have had during college! I am really excited about being part of the clinic for several reasons. I am constantly learning and trying new things with technology and design, which has been fun and interesting and will help me during the rest of my college career, as well as my life after college. I am also a part of something that is going to have a really positive impact on the lives of so many families within the Monroe County community, which is really rewarding! It also has given me the chance to meet so many new people.

I am an intern on the Monroe County United Ministries team with 4 other people. We are working on redesigning their website to make it more user-friendly. The redesign will hopefully make it easier for MCUM’s clients to find the information they need to get help, as well as draw in more volunteers and donors and make it easier for them to find relevant information on how to get involved. I am really excited to be a part of this team because I really think it will greatly impact the community in a very positive way. I have seen how helpful MCUM is for the community members through volunteering in one of the classrooms as well as in their food pantry. They really provide great services for families. I am happy to be a part of ServeIT as well as a volunteer at MCUM because I love opportunities to help others. I definitely want to continue to be a part of this great organization for the rest of my time at IU and am looking forward to working with other great nonprofits in Bloomington! I am hoping to be a team lead both semesters next school year to fulfill my capstone requirement for graduation.

My name is Michael Simpson and this is currently my first semester working with Serve IT. I am part of the Middle Way House team, which is currently working to provide methods of storing, organizing, and exploring their collected data. I can say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Serve IT and the work we have done thus far. We have met with the stakeholders several times, working with them to understand their needs and the requirements of the system. In my roll, I have worked mostly as a coder, working on backend code and database interactions with Python. But I do not limit myself, I work to learn other aspects of the process, just as frontend done through HTML, CSS, and Javascript, so that I may contribute more in these areas. I am pleased to be part of the Serve IT program and look forward to providing an excellent solution for Middle Way House’s needs, which in turn will allow them to better assist their clients.

My Tech Support intern experience last semester, my first with Serve IT, was beneficial because I was able to learn aspects of hardware life-cycle management, networking, access control/permissions, refurbishing donated machines (which we can always use), et cetera.

As this is the second semester of my participation with Serve IT, I have been given the opportunity to be Project Manager/Team Lead for two teams, i.e., Middle Way House and Tech Support, within the clinic. This has been as fulfilling an endeavor as I have had since my return to Indiana University for two reasons: my connection with the Bloomington community has grown in direct connection to the fulfillment of my I491 Capstone Internship; and, the interns I have the privilege of working with, as well as the projects themselves, have taught me as much about Human Computer Interaction/Design and Security as my primary research during my undergraduate courses here at Indiana University.

The project we are tasked to finish for Middle Way House is the design and implementation of a database utilizing the Google App Engine and Datastore environments. We are using the Python API which is beneficial because the School of Informatics teaches Python in sophomore level classes. We have expanded the web app with Django, jQuery, HTML/CSS methods. The data for this client is sensitive and we are using above “industry standard” cryptography techniques to protect it. This has allowed me to use my security cognate knowledge in consulting with teammates and the client.

The Tech Support Team has done IT Audits with three of the non-profits other teams are working with this semester: Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, Hoosier Hills Food Bank and Crestmont Boys and Girls Club. We are in the midst of finishing our audit reports and look forward to working at these clients locations during the rest of this semester. We are doing most of our research on Virtual Networking this semester. The reason for this is to begin to figure out the best way for non-profits to utilize technology and virtualization is a hot topic right now.

All in all, I am thankful for Serve IT. Having the ability to apply what I have learned as an undergraduate before graduating is irreplaceable.

Although I’m only halfway through my first semester with Serve IT, I couldn’t be more excited.  With a school of over 40,000 students, it can be tough to really feel at home sometimes.  However, this isn’t a problem at Serve IT.  The entire group is extremely helpful and it’s great to have a small community of people who share similar interests and face similar challenges.  My team is working with the Bloomington Volunteer Network – Bloomington’s one-stop source for all volunteer information.  BVN is an important asset to the community as it provides communication between would-be volunteers and non-profit organizations so I’m honored to be able to help them achieve their goals.
We are working with BVN to create a section of their website that will allow non-profits to post “wishes” or items that they need.  Those in the community who would like to donate will easily be able to log on and see if they can meet those needs.  I’m currently designing mockups of the website as well as helping with coding when necessary.  I am gaining knowledge and experience in web development, design, communication, and teamwork.  I enjoy being able to give back to a community that has provided me with a great home for the past three years and the real world experience that Serve IT offers is priceless.

My name is Conor Wilson and this is my first semester as a ServeIT intern. I am part of the Special Ops team. Our job is to work on projects that were left unfinished from previous semesters. I am currently working on the LBMCAA website. As a computer science major I was excited to work on technology related projects that had an effect in the real world and that is exactly what ServeIT provides. Through ServeIT I am gaining valuable experience in working on a team to achieve goals not unlike what I would experience in industry. I am looking forward to continuing my work in ServeIT.

This has been my first semester at ServeIT. So far I have really enjoyed it. Probably the most difficult task in working with a team is getting everyone together and on the same page. Not only must this be done with your own team, but often you are dealing with a client that has their own executive board to make decisions. So getting your team together and their board of decision makers together all at once can be nearly impossible. The result is that a project can get stalled for a couple of weeks and that is not good, especially when you only have a semester to complete a project!