Every year, a new group of eager students arrive at Sheridan Faculty of Applied Science and Technology School of Applied Computing, while graduates leave to enter the workforce. Nothing is more rewarding to a faculty member than to contrast the inexperienced first year student to the innovative young professionals who are ready to tackle the workforce when they graduate. It such a pleasure to see the changes in them from when they first set foot into Sheridan. It is the key reason why faculty members relish the ability to watch their students in a final capstone showcase. For those unfamiliar, a capstone project is the comprehensive and cumulative work of a team of Sheridan students, integrated to the curriculum, conducted over the course of an entire calendar year and applied to a non-trivial problem of a real client.
As such, Sheridan’s Computer Systems Technology – Systems Analyst Annual Capstone Project Competition is an outstanding and valuable milestone that displays this remarkable growth. On Wednesday, Dec. 3 2014, faculty members chose the top four teams who competed and was adjudicated by a panel of 8 industry professionals. The four teams to compete were:
- Team NAN – Nulogx – NuView Transportation Management Solution
- Tyler Burke, Daniel Dafoe, Eric Medeiros and Michael Warzocha
The system provides accurate mobile tracking of truck shipments including methods to predict and monitor lateness or logistics problems.
- Team MacMelo and Co. – Portuguese Canadian Integration Movement Website
- Chad MacMillan, Jeff Melo, John Steddy and Jacqueline Figueroa
The system is comprehensive website to automate paper based processes of the association.
- Team Fixoin – Michael Angelos Grocery – Mobile Application
- Matthew Daily, Matthew Godden, Matthew Long and Justin Zajaczkowski
The system helps create a unified feel and experience that will be the same for a consumer that goes into a store with a mobile phone or visits the website.
- Team Main Method – The Region of Peel – TrailMix Mobile Application
- Garrett May, Shivam Sharma, Parth Sondarva and Jonathan Zarate
The system helps the Region promote and encourage residents to use healthier, more active modes of transportation as part of a daily routine.
After a splendid buffet dinner and welcome from Dean Iain McNab, each student team was given 20 minutes of time to introduce their client, the business challenges, the project they created, demonstrate a working version of their code using mobile or desktop displays, and answer questions. The students’ hard work, dedication and talent were reflected in their innovative results. This was a unique opportunity for everyone to see their impressive work ethic, creativity and skills they acquired in the past few years at Sheridan.
Our adjudicators this year were senior managers and executives from Protiviti, CIBC Online Brokerage, BMO Financial Group, Avatara Software, HP Canada and Osnium Software
The projects the students work on for the entire year are defined by our industry partners. Without them, the students would not have projects to work on! Every year the number of partners and projects has increased considerably. For instance, 25 projects selected for the 2014 Capstone projects came from a pool of 90 interested companies and projects of which these finalists are only a sample,
After all four teams gave their presentations, the panel was given time to choose the winning team. The judging panel award the top prize to team Main Method.
Congratulations to Garrett May, Shivam Sharma, Parth Sondarva and Jonathan Zarate on their impressive achievement! Their presentation was outstanding and the demo was faultless.
By adopting the TrailMix mobile platform, the Region of Peel can diversify how they interact with the community by offering a marketing and promotional tool that encourages its residents to start exploring their own backyard. By giving a user the ability to track their progress navigating through any given trail, this platform can also collects metrics for the Region to better understand which trails are being used and how often.
Their results covered all aspects of the assignment and was truly impressive! The tem is pictured below along with faculty members Mark Orlando and Rich Smith as well as Erica Duque representing the Region of Peel. Shivam is present in the picture only as he was in India for the break.
Associate Deans Phil Stubbs, Joe Varrasso and Dean Iain McNabb awarded the certificates, medals and prizes to all the student teams.
Unfortunately only one team can win the top prize at the end of the day, but that should not be seen as a weakness to the other teams. All teams should be proud of their accomplishments and they still made it to the top four. All of the participating teams worked tirelessly to prepare for the event, and have caught the eyes of a number of industry leaders. Without a doubt they will all continue to make our school proud as they continue to make their way into the professional world. The judges were truly impressed and had only positive remarks to say!
Sincere thanks to the outstanding faculty members who supported the students though their learning journey with a special shout-out the administrative staff who helped to plan and organize the event.
