LAKELAND, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2005) - Florida Southern College computer science majors created a website for the Polk County Historical Association as the final project in their web programming class. The site, www.polkha.org, contains over 140 pages of data on the association and reproduces 30 years of the Polk Historical Quarterly. 

"It is a terrific website, very user-friendly, and really tells the story of the Polk County Historical Association," said K.C. Jarrett, a member of the association's board. "There just aren't words to express how excited and grateful the PCHA members are for this website."

The project was part of a class assignment in which the students formed groups and chose non-profit organizations for which to work. They followed proscribed steps for contacting principals, gathering requirements, and performing ongoing reviews with their clients. The students participating in the PCHA project include Eliot Dill, a senior and the son of Nicholas and Cindy Russo of Homosassa, Fla.; David Ginn, a senior and resident of Lakeland, Fla.; Christina Parks, a sophomore and the daughter of Richard and Mary Parks of Nassau, Bahamas; and Josh Rosengrant, a senior and the son of Jeffrey and Beatrice Rosengrant of Lakeland, Fla. 

"Hats off to Professor Michael Way and his students for producing this fine web site, which provides immediate access to all those interested in Polk County's history," said James M. Denham, history professor and director of the Center for Florida History. "This wonderful site puts the Polk County Historical Association, its activities, and its publications at our fingertips." 


About Florida Southern College
Founded in 1885, Florida Southern College is a private, comprehensive, United Methodist college with a liberal arts core. The college maintains its commitment to academic excellence through 38 undergraduate majors and distinctive graduate programs in business administration, education, and nursing. Florida Southern has a 14:1 student/faculty ratio, provides strong student/faculty mentorship programs, boasts 24 NCAA Division II national championships, and is ranked by U. S. News and World Report as one of the top ten Southern Comprehensive Colleges-Bachelors. Located on scenic Lake Hollingsworth, Florida Southern is the home of the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.