Studer Community Institute

Pensacola State College partners with AppRiver to give students workforce experience

April 19, 2015
/ Staff Reports
/ education

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Pensacola State College computer science students are getting experience working on a real-world software project in a new capstone course that is built around direct involvement with local companies. AppRiver email and web security experts stepped up to offer the first partnership with the class. For the past three months, students have been working on two of AppRiver’s log file formats – importing, processing and analyzing the files. Their goal is to create an application with visual appeal that could be used to give real-time feedback on spam and malware activity. The public is invited to see the students’ accomplishments at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, on the PSC Pensacola campus, Building 21, Room 2142. The students worked individually and will be presenting their creations, discussing hurdles they faced during development, and explaining their design decisions. PSC instructor Chad Andrae said he initiated the capstone course because he was aware that local technology companies could not find enough talent to meet their workforce needs. At the same time, he had students who were already demonstrating the potential to be successful software developers. “I began to focus my efforts on ways to get these students recognized so the local companies could see what I see in them and give them a chance to begin their careers here in Pensacola,” Andrae said. “AppRiver expressed a lot of interest in helping with this project, so we have worked closely with them to develop the project specifications for this semester.” Andrae says this inaugural class is already showing success and will continue to be offered as a culminating course for PSC students working on an associate’s degree in computer science. “Each time we offer the capstone course, we want a local business to be involved with defining the project specifications before the course begins,” he said. “This ensures that the students will work on a project that is interesting and beneficial to local businesses. “This capstone course is like a new approach to traditional internships for students before they graduate. Instead of the students going to the company, the company comes to the students. By the end of the semester, all of the students in this course gain valuable experience and the company sees the potential for new employees.” For more information, contact PSC Marketing Director Sheila Nichols at 850-484-1428.

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Pensacola State College partners with AppRiver to give students workforce experience

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