Things were getting out of control. There was so much paperwork: ballots, schedules and other information that needed to get to out to all of the approximately 2,400 Cappies members.
So in the fall of 2001, Bill Strauss, director of the Cappies, approached the administration at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology about a student project — creating a members-only Web site to replace all the paper. So now, with a few simple keystrokes, Cappies judges and mentors can access a Web site, which allows them to vote, coordinate schedules, receive e-mail reminders, and read reviews. But getting to that point, was no simple task.
Jefferson seniors Samarth Keshava from McLean, Jeff Arnold from Great Falls, Tim Abbott from McLean and junior Evan Danaher from Fairfax had to create the code from scratch to make it all work, in their spare time and for no academic credit. And with the exception of Evan who has plays in the pit orchestra, none of the students are involved with theater.
"Most of what we used [to create the program] we're not even learning," said Jeff, who took the lead on the project.
EVEN THOUGH the basic code is finished, the Web site still requires daily maintenance and the students are constantly tweaking it to make it better. They have also taken on extra work now that the Cappies program has expanded into other regions across the country. The foursome's Web site is supporting Cappies in cities in Oregon, Ohio, Florida, New York, Michigan, Missouri and Texas, with each needing its own modifications specific to the individual programs.
With most of its creators graduating this year, the future of the Web site, however, is in doubt because of its maintenance needs and the fact that it is run through the Jefferson's intranet, which is a private network within the school.
"I'm probably going to work on it next year," Jeff said. "I don't want to burden others with something I volunteered for."
"Anyone taking over would have to figure out what we've done," said Samarth. "It might be a side job for me in college."
Jeff said the specifics of the program makes it too hard to find someone and teach them to run it.
The boys used a secure Web-based application in Perl and JavaScript to create the Web site, which allows the critics to sign up for which plays they want to judge, it sends alerts when too many or not enough judges sign up for a particular show, sends e-mail reminders to the judges when it is time for the plays and tabulates the voting in the 35 judging categories.
"It was a good experience," said Samarth. "It gave me a taste of real-life programming and a chance to practice skills. I haven't done something this big before."
THE FOURSOME took a team approach to creating the program, with Jeff coming up with the basic idea and parceling out jobs to everyone. At first the students thought they were taking on a medium-sized voting project, but it soon grew and became the baby of its creators.
"Jeff and Samarth really are the ones in charge," said Evan. "We just would add things to the program."
According to former Jefferson teacher Don Hyatt, the students took over the project from another student and after looking at what had been done to that point, threw everything out and began all over again, giving them only weeks to finish the Web site.
In a referral for a scholarship application Hyatt has written for Jeff, he said: "By the day student critics throughout the county were ready to vote, Jeff had his Cappies software complete, secure and fully debugged. Since the students who would be voting might not be computer literate, Jeff even arranged for shifts of student volunteers to be stationed at secure terminals in the county offices to assist the voters. Everything went smoothly; it was an unqualified success."
Samarth said the team plans to do its best to make sure the Web sit does not disappear as they move on to college.