This semester, four seniors studying Computing collaborated together for their senior Capstone Project.
Michael Hernandez, Luke Kontes, Adam Buchholz and Shemaiah Telemaque wanted to develop a system to improve efficiency and service satisfaction at the Gazebo (a quick-service restaurant on campus that is part of Dining Services).
In their research project, they worked to create a web ordering system for the Gazebo so customers would have the option to place their orders online, in addition to the current option of ordering in person. This new online ordering systems will be designed to save waiting time as students would choose the time to pick up their order.
The computing students gained valuable experience in this project by working with different departments accross campus, such as, Integrated Marketing & Communication, ITS, and Dining Services. They were able to work directly with the manager of Dining Services to customize the ordering system to tackle the problems they were facing in their daily operation. Their website had to meet the standards of ITS and IMC, and to make sure their system would integrate seamlessly with the current system.
Shemiah shared some of the new skills that he and his classmates developed when they worked on this project. One area he mentioned was, “learning new programming languages and technologies” as well as communicating with Dining Services (the client for the project).
Michael pointed out that learning new programming languages through this Capstone Project “will definitely be useful in my future career.”
Lucas spoke about how this Capstone Project helped each of the students improve their problem solving skills. He said, “as with any project, problems will arise and this forces us to re-evaluate the process we were following, adjust the scope of the project so that the problem does not interfere, or find a permanent solution to the problem.”
The group chose this Capstone Project at the Gazebo because they wanted to have an impact on the University as a whole. Since these students and their friends have many interactions with the Gazebo, this project is one way to make that impact in a tangible way.
