DACC digital design students headed to nationals

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A team of digital design students from the Delaware Area Career Center will travel to Disney World in May to compete in a Business Professionals of America competition.

Delaware Hayes High School juniors Daryn Myers, Charlie Hardison, Addie Palmquist and Big Walnut High School junior Chloe Willison, said Wednesday that they entered the BPA’s graphic design contest last semester and were tasked with creating a website from scratch.

Over several months, the students put together craftyacorn.com a website about Do-It-Yourself projects.

Hardison said she and Willison coded the website while Myers and Palmquist worked on the DIY projects and the logos.

The students said they would have weekly meetings about the project and each had different assignments to work on.

The team presented the website at statewide web design contest the BPA was running and won first place, defeating two-time state champions, Pickerington North.

“We were really nervous all day, but it was really satisfying to see our hard work pay off,” Myers said.

Hardison said they were very surprised to win, because Pickerington North students have a specialized web design course, whereas the students in the DACC’s digital design course learn a large variety of design work, without specifically focusing on one area.

DACC Digital Design instructor Josh Gallagan said he was very proud of the team and tried to stay as hands-off as possible, but found it very difficult because he’s so competitive.

“Being competitive I wanted to get in there, but I had to stand by and let them fly,” Gallagan said. “It was nerve racking for me but their work blew my mind. It was a ‘two-touchdown win’ and I’m so proud of them.”

Willison said the team is now focusing on how to improve their website and presentation before the national competition next month in Orlando.

“We were criticized by the judges because our site loaded slowly,” Willison said. “So we are going to have to compress the images on the site because they are too large.”

The students said they are also excited to compete again next year and are already thinking about ways to improve.

“We used a lot of tools to build this site and I think we’d like to move away from using those tools next year,” Willison said.

The students added that they’ve have been doing design projects outside of school and said Liberty Township has contacted them about redoing the Liberty Township website later this year. Hardison said she has also been doing design work for a local travel agency.

The competition will be held between May 10 to 14 in Orlando.

From left to right: Daryn Myers, Chloe Willison, Charlie Hardison and DACC South Campus Building Director, Kris Lucas who helped the students with their presentations. Myers is holding the BPA State competition trophy and Willison is holding a printed version of the website’s code. Addie Palmquist was absent Wednesday and was unable to be photographed.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/03/web1_DSC_1554.jpgFrom left to right: Daryn Myers, Chloe Willison, Charlie Hardison and DACC South Campus Building Director, Kris Lucas who helped the students with their presentations. Myers is holding the BPA State competition trophy and Willison is holding a printed version of the website’s code. Addie Palmquist was absent Wednesday and was unable to be photographed. Glenn Battishill | The Gazette

Addie Palmquist.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2017/03/web1_addie.jpgAddie Palmquist. Courtesy photo | Craftacorn.com

By Glenn Battishill

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Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903 or on Twitter @BattishillDG.

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