Computer Information Systems at Aquinas College

Aquinas Tech Club students set a goal to focus on both community and service. Student members began the year by hosting a “photo booth” (run with the club’s custom-built computer, and complete with props) at a kick-off student event. This led to multiple requests for the booth at successive community events (including Jr. Saints weekend, pictured at right). The Grand Rapids Java User Group, led by alumnus and adjunct Carlus Henry, was hosted by the students, beginning a mutually beneficial relationship between both area programmers (many of whom are also successful Aquinas alumni) and current students interested in application development. The students also hosted alumnus and entrepreneur Scott Anderson, who shared the infrastructure of his company’s online certification website, as well as the struggles and successes of small business ownership.

The group also hosted “Demystify Your Device,” a collaborative tech-help session hosted for OLLI students on the Aquinas campus. At this event, students gave an introductory talk about the “cloud” in relationship to devices. Students then split up with OLLI members to work on specific device questions, from laptops to iPhones, Kindles to digital picture frames. Both OLLI and Tech Club members agreed that the event was a success, with plans to hold similar events in the future.

           

Former students Michael Ignatoski '11 and James Bouwens '12 chartered the Tech Club in 2010-11 out of a desire to explore technical areas of interest outside of class. Club members of various disciplines have met since that time to discuss trends, plan events, host special speakers, and work on “tech” projects together. Past projects have included programming a mobile application for the Android phone and designing/assembling a custom computer.