Graphics teacher Christine Memler’s first-semester web-design class spent three months creating a working website for a local small business, Cooper’s Way, which supports no-kill animal shelters by selling all-natural, non-toxic dog treats.

In late October, Memler received a call from Vicki Price, Cooper’s Way owner, to see if Memler’s students were interested in creating a website for her. After working with professional logo designers, Price had decided to see if South’s class could create the website instead.

“We were at a really good point in our curriculum where I could incorporate a website as part of the students’ work,” Memler said.

The creation of an actual, working website allowed students to use skills learned in class, such as the proper application of technologies such as HTML (Hyper Text Mark-Up Language) Coding, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and InDesign software.

According to Memler, students gained valuable real-world experience from the project. Sophomore Eleni Trapp enjoyed working on the project.

“Mainly, I gained experience for what it would be like to make a website for a real customer,” Trapp said. “We all got to see the kinds of problems that can arise and how to work through them.”

Price saw how the students were able to learn more from a real-world project rather than a regular assignment.

“When you know that this person’s livelihood is based on what you’re going to do for her, your motivation is there,” Price sad.

Memler split the class’ 14 students into teams of two or three, with the idea that they would compete to create the best website, which would ultimately become the site that Price used.

Price liked different elements of each website, so she decided to combine the work of all the groups to produce the final, live website.

“Every single group had several things on their template that I absolutely loved, so when she told us to pick a winner, I [said], ‘I can’t’,” Price said.

One of the greatest challenges of the project, according to Memler, was figuring out exactly what Price wanted and incorporating her suggestions into the site. In order for each group to grasp exactly what Price had in mind, they had to send many emails back and forth to Price.

“I think, for the kids, it was coming up with ‘electric blue’ [as the color of the background] that was…probably the most interesting,” Memler said. “[Price] was pretty insistent about that. It was one of the things that she really, really, really wanted in the site.”

The students completed their websites in a four-week time period. Price was impressed with the results.

“I was knocked off my socks with the quality of the work of the kids in the class,” Price said. “When they came back weeks later with five different templates to choose from, I was like, ‘Oh my God, they got it.’”

Price compared the work of professionals that she had hired to create the logo for Cooper’s Way to that of Memler’s students. She preferred the students’ design.

Price plans for Cooper’s Way’s profits to be a source of donations to no-kill shelters, so she felt the job given to Memler’s students was a critical one.

“A website is crucial to a business,” Price stated. “It can make it or it can break it.”

Sophomore Tommy Roumeliotis said he was happy with not only the process of making the website but also the final result.

“I felt satisfied because I had helped [Price] make her dream a reality,” Roumeliotis said.