Wilkes University Student Government is looking to improve the campus experience for everyone with a new website that keeps users up to date with all things Colonel.

The site wilkes.presence.io is the computer platform for the Student Government app “The Colonel Guide” which became available in 2017. Like the app, the site contains information on all clubs and events on campus from Bingo Night to Zebra Communications.

Student Body President Cody Morcom explained how the website and its corresponding app help improve student engagement.

“We are the sounding board for student concerns,” said Morcom. “These two tools help us to both hear and see concerns as well as get information to every Colonel in a quick, easy, and less-invasive way than ever before.”

Campus events appear on the site’s main screen. Students can click the Organizations tab to see a listing of all clubs and organizations on campus. By selecting a club, they can view meeting times and locations and send a request to join. In addition, any questions the user has can be immediately sent to the inbox of the club’s president.

Morcom said the app is also a way for Student Government to receive helpful feedback. In the Campus Forms tab, students can fill out surveys about campus events. This allows Student Government to have the likes and dislikes of Wilkes students right at their fingertips.

The site also allows for demographic analysis to ensure campus events are reaching out to all Colonels.

“Students may notice how we use their swipes at every SG event,” said Morcom. “This swipe checks them in and allows us to see […] their class year, major, if they’re a resident or commuter, ethnicity, and so much more.”

Student Government Vice President Katelyn Jimison explained the importance of this feature.

“Presence helps us to identify groups of students who we are having trouble getting to attend our events, which allows us to make changes in the future to cater to what everyone wants to see.”

Morcom said the website and app combined will absolutely enhance the experience of Wilkes students.

“In the past Student Government has played a big role in event planning on campus,” Morcom said. “Over the course of the past semester and into the future, it has been my mission to ensure we maintain that while also advocating for change and improvements that students want and need.”

Any student, faculty, staff member or alumni can easily access the website. Their information is pre-loaded onto the site using a sync system with help from the Wilkes IT department.

“[It’s] super complex, but it works amazingly,” said Morcom.

“I am confident that my successor, the SG President next year will take it further and help to enhance student life even more,” Morcom said. “There are many new updates that the platform’s company is going to be releasing over the next year, ones that I feel will be extremely beneficial to all students interested in enjoying the awesome social events [our] campus offers.”

These updates will include useful budgeting tools, Jimison said. These tools would be useful because club leadership changes from year to year.

“The Presence tools allow us to update the club leaders to allow current leaders to have access to all of the old budgets […] from past events,” she said. “This would also be a great way to track spending when multiple people may be working to plan an event, and easily see where your spending is at versus the budget.”

Morcom hopes for more clubs and organizations to be added to the site. While the platform is in its early stages, Student Government foresees a successful future.

“I think Presence is a great resource for all clubs and students to use, and I’m excited to keep spreading the word about it throughout campus,” Jimison said.