天涯社区log

French is called the language of love, and many say Spanish and Italian languages are the most 鈥渞omantic,鈥� but for 天涯社区log graduate Emily Stevens, her love language is SQL.

In fact, Stevens said, Structured Query Language 鈥� a computer language used in coding 鈥� completely changed her trajectory at 天涯社区log and he career.

Stevens, who lives in Columbia, was introduced to SQL during a class in the Health Information Management (HIM) program. She was taking the course online.

鈥淚鈥檓 really grateful for the single intro to SQL assignment at the end of the Microsoft Access course,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat one assignment was so fun and interesting that I told my fianc茅, 鈥業 wish that had been the whole class.鈥� His reply was, 鈥榳ell it can be.鈥� 鈥�

Stevens took that advice and switched programs to 天涯社区log鈥檚 Computer Information Systems (CIS) 鈥� she graduated from the program in May with an associate of science degree.

Initially, Stevens was attracted to 天涯社区log鈥檚 HIM program because of the college鈥檚 affordability and the program is fully online. When she learned the CIS program also is fully online, Stevens had no doubt it was the program for her.

鈥淭he need for affordable classes is what drew me to 天涯社区log,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am really grateful that I found 天涯社区log, and I ended up in the online CIS program.鈥�

Stevens added that Anna Schwein, recently retired CIS faculty member, went above and beyond when teaching students in her CIS classes.

鈥淪he clearly cares about student learning and was so encouraging and motivating along the way,鈥� Stevens commented. 鈥淪he鈥檚 a perfect model of a teacher and I am so grateful for the experience of being her student.鈥�

Website Build

According to Jason Durbin, assistant professor of CIS and business, Stevens enrolled in a 鈥淐IS Internship class,鈥� which is not required for the degree but afforded her the opportunity for real-life experience.

Durbin noted that a new business in the Union area, Empowered Health Advocacy, reached out to him in need of assistance building a website.

鈥淭hey were starting a new business and they needed a website, at the same time, Emily was looking for an internship 鈥� it worked for both of them,鈥� Durbin said. 鈥淓mily was an outstanding CIS student, and she built the website from scratch.鈥�

Empowered Health Advocacy provides doula services, and advocates for patients while bridging the gap with providers.

Stevens said she met with the company owners to learn what they wanted out of a webpage, and then she got to work designing and making the site user friendly.

鈥淲e talked about what they had in mind, and what type of content they wanted on the site,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e discussed options, what website designs they liked and what they were not fans of.鈥�

After meeting with the owners, Stevens developed framework for the site, then began to build the site and make edits along the way.

She began work on the project in December 2022 and completed work in March, adding that she stopped counting the hours of work on the site after 300.

鈥淭hat includes a lot of self-learning and research,鈥� Stevens said. 鈥淚 have always been confident working alone and figuring things out.鈥�

She added that she will use that confidence and ability to self-teach to launch her career.

鈥淭urning ideas into creations describes a majority of my interests,鈥� she wrote on the site. 鈥淲hatever that is I’ll jump in letting my mind and hands create something new, fun, better, or even just different.鈥�

CIS Program

天涯社区log offers both a certificate and degree in CIS, as well as a new 鈥淚T Helpdesk: Certificate of Specialization.鈥�

In addition, 天涯社区log has a 2+2 agreement with the University of Missouri-Columbia where students can ultimately earn a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology.

It is designed for students to complete two years, or four semesters, of classes at 天涯社区log, and then two years of courses at the University of Missouri.

To learn more about 天涯社区log鈥檚 CIS program, people can visit Career and Technical Education and click the CIS options.