The class is part of Honors Explorations and focuses on the negative effects of technology.
The curriculum includes helping local non-profit Temporary Emergency Services with its thrift store at 1705 15th Street. Temporary Emergency Services provides necessary items for those in crisis situations. The organization has provided money, goods and services for people who were affected by the April 27, 2011 tornado.
The thrift store sells clothes, jewelry, books, cookware, household items, furniture and other personal items.
Zach Barnhill, a senior majoring in accounting and management, said the class is focused on helping the charity’s IT department.
“In class we talk about all these controversial IT topics,” he said. “Then we deal with the project to help a business with IT-related issues, which turned into helping Temporary Emergency Services any way we can. Our project for the class is to go into this organization and help them do things better. We’ve been working amongst ourselves the last few weeks to plan out what we can do for them.”
The students of UH 120 also help the nonprofit spread the word around campus.
“Their thrift shop is their primary source of any revenue that would enable us to help them,” Barnhill said. “We’ve been speaking to people in the Honors College and other places on campus about advertising for them in emails and other ways that they contact students, and we are planning on doing some advertisements on our own by making flyers for them.”
Harris Neal, a junior majoring in accounting, helps develop the thrift store’s IT department.
“We are developing an IT checklist,” Neal said. “We’re researching and going through the site and making sure everything’s password-protected, making sure everything’s as secure as it can be.”
Barnhill said he’s looking forward to seeing the positive impact UH 120 will have on Temporary Emergency Services.
“By the end of the semester, the organization will have a better ability to run their business effectively,” he said. “We want to use information technology to increase their efficiency and ability to effectively hold their records, but there is only so much you can do for such a limited company. So hopefully we can help them in as many ways as possible.”
