Quinnipiac seniors J.T Pierce and Matthew Krawse live the life some students only dream of.they have classes twice a week. That means five days a week all to themselves to do whatever they please, right? Wrong. “On Tuesday and Thursday nights we tend to stay up until 3 a.m. working on the site, and then all day Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,” Pierce said.
The “site” that these two individuals have decided to devote most of their lives to is itsyourcollege.com. It features three sections: academic links, your links, and local links where with a click of the mouse you can arrive at your QU e-mail account, Facebook account, MySpace page, Blackboard, WebAdvisor or even a shuttle schedule. Users can also click on icons for fast-food delivery menus categorized by type of food or view universal news headlines, The Chronicle and a Google search bar that graces the top of the page.
Pierce and Krawse said they got the idea for itsyourcollege.com as sophomores living in Mountainview when they began having problems finding fast-food menus to order from.
“You know when you’re a freshman and it takes you a few weeks to simply get adjusted to Quinnipiac?” Krawse said. “You’re just getting your feet wet. Eventually, we want this site to help students dive right in and get adjusted right away so they can enjoy their entire time here.”
And so the process of creating itsyourcollege.com began. The duo invested their money into Web design, Web hosting and local promotions. But they say that monetary gain is not their sole motivation. “It’s not about the money,” the pair said in unison. Though they do make some revenue, they believe in their motto: “Students now, money later.”
Itsyourcollege.com has appeared on some local nightlife promotions for clubs like Hammer Jacks in New Haven. “We want people to say ‘We’re going to Hammer Jacks to the itsyourcollege.com party’ not for money. What better way to spread word than parties?” Pierce said.
It’s evident that promoting the site is important to Krawse and Pierce and it seems to be paying off.
On average, the site gets between 2,500 and 3,000 hits per day. Of those hits, approximately 60 percent of the visitors made itsyourcollege.com their homepage.
Future improvements to the site will include the ability to post individual student’s schedules. “The future of the sight will blow your mind,” Pierce said.
The two seniors (who will be staying here in Hamden after graduation to pursue their Web-endeavors) plan to make this site available to at least three other colleges. Eventually, they hope the site will become a staple to the daily routines of students all over. They also hope to coordinate itsyourcollege.com with Quinnipiac’s freshman orientation process to help incoming students adapt to QU even before their first day of school.
“We want this to become important to everyone,” Pierce said. “We want you to wake up and check itsyourcollege.com. It has all the news you need for the day and all the links you could possibly need at your fingertips.”
