Summer Intern Helps AWRC Address Mission
Yakeshia Jenkins, a senior in computer science at the University of Arkansas, spent the summer working with the Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC).
“Yakeshia has done an excellent job helping to enhance our web content and usability,” said Erin Scott, AWRC program manager. “We hired her to help us improve how we share information to stakeholders.”
Yakeshia started this summer with some experience in website development, and a lot of potential. Now, she’s ending the summer with lots of experience in HTML, CSS, and even some JavaScript.
One of the coolest projects she completed is an interactive site map showing where the Center currently collects water samples at local streams. 
The site icons can be clicked, and then a pop-up appears that shows the site name, USGS gaging station number if applicable, and the watershed that the site is in. For many of the sites, when the site name is clicked, the user can even see water quality data for that site.
Yakeshia also helped create other new content on the AWRC website and improved the functionality and usability of the site. For example, she built the “Word Cloud” webpage where users can enter three words that come to mind when they think of the Center. This will let us know what stakeholders think about the Center and its activities. Check out the website to see other changes she’s made.
During the summer, she also developed social media campaigns and helped with the annual water conference.
“I enjoyed myself at the AWRC,” said Yakeshia. “I learned a lot and loved being able to execute my ideas and then seeing how well they worked.”
The AWRC student summer internship program started in 2014. Students have worked on projects from GIS mapping to website development, depending on the needs of the Center. The internship program has been great opportunity for students from various disciplines to work on meaningful projects that allows the Center to better serve the state of Arkansas and its stakeholders.
