3 Thursday, August 15, 2019 The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com NEWS After 14 weeks of work- ing on various projects, students in the 2019 Information and Technol- ogy Services Internship Cohort lined the Michigan League with posters at the ITS Internship Showcase on Friday. The showcase featured a poster session, a student panel and closing remarks from Ravi Pendse, vice president for informa- tion technology and chief information officer. This year, the Intern- ship Cohort was com- prised of 47 university and high school students. While many were from the University of Michigan, there were also students from University of South- ern California, Michigan State University and sur- rounding Ann Arbor high schools. DePriest Dockins, co-chairman of the ITS Internship planning com- mittee, stated there was a jump in the number of applicants this year. “We went from about 130 the previous year to 320 this year,” Dockins said. “We were aston- ished.” According to Dockins, many students selected stood out in enthusiasm and ability to grow. Dock- ins stated many of the candidates come in with little to no hands-on expe- rience, so the program administrators hope the ITS Internship provides interns with the perfect complement to their strong academic background. Diane Jones, execu- tive director of operations in ITS, serves as a spon- sor for the program and worked with the planning committee to expand and improve the program. This year, Jones explained they integrated the Wol- verine Pathways Program to introduce high school students to technology- oriented fields. The Wol- verine Pathways Program is a free local program that helps seventh through 12th grade students pre- pare for college. “We’re hugely proud that we’re able to contrib- ute to that and bring stu- dents from surrounding areas,” Jones said. “The Wolverine Pathway Pro- gram is so important to helping students under- stand how to manage life.” Tamariah Davis is a senior at Ypsilanti Com- munity High School and was a participant of the Wolverine Pathway Pro- gram. She said she learned how to use adobe, man- age responsibilities and become more self confi- dent. “I’m very undecided about what I want to do in life,” Davis said. “I want to be a nurse, I want to be in ITS, I want to be a teach- er, I want to be so many things … This helped me narrow down what I want- ed to do.” Michigan State Uni- versity senior Raisa Mor- rison worked on creating the ITS Intern Portal to improve and centralize intern communication. As an English major, she said she was able to apply what she learned in classes to being the project manager for her group. “Being nontechnical, I was really nervous,” Mor- rison said. “But they create a lot of space for technical and non-technical stu- dents.” LSA senior Joseph Lisi, on the other hand, was exposed to many different experiences that improved his technical skills. He worked on a project about significant incident auto- mation to improve the coordination and respon- siveness to various infor- mation and technology issues. “I was able to take a professional business pro- cess and learn about it and learn how to improve it,” Lisi said. “It’s not really stuff you can learn in school.” Visitors to Ann Arbor City Hall last Monday were greet- ed by a new front desk staffed by an unarmed, private secu- rity guard, where they will now need to check in to gain access to the third through sixth floors. Two days later, the University of Michigan began installing door locks to all classrooms and class labs in Mason Hall — the site of a false active shooter scare last semester — as part of a pilot project to enhance security and emergency preparedness campuswide. Though planned for ahead of time, both projects were coincidentally implemented the week after a string of mass shootings — two less than 24 hours apart in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and one earlier in the week in Gilroy, Calif. — in which more than 32 people were killed. According to the Gun Vio- lence Archive, as of August 5 there have been 255 mass shootings in the United States this year — a rate of more than one per day. Soon after, the governments of Venezuela and Uruguay and Amnesty International all released travel advisories, warning those visiting the U.S. of the high levels of gun violence. In response to these national trends, institutions in Ann Arbor are also taking precautions. Though inde- pendent of one another, the two back-to-back projects share a common purpose: to protect people frequent- ing the buildings from vio- lent threats and emergencies as mass shootings become deadlier nationwide. University door-lock proj- ect The door-lock project is being led by the Division of Public Safety and Security. Working with a team from the University’s Architec- ture, Engineering and Con- struction division, DPSS plans to finish the locks by the end of August so the classrooms can still be used in the fall. According to a Univer- sity press release, the pilot project will guide University administration in exploring the scope and process of installing door locks to class- rooms campuswide. DPSS Executive Director Eddie L. Washington Jr. noted Mason Hall was chosen as the first location due to its proximity to the Diag. “The safety of students, fac- ulty, staff and visitors is our top priority,” Washington Jr. said. “This project is part of our broader efforts to continuously identify technology, enhance alerting and implement train- ing to ensure the safety and security of our community.” In an email to The Daily, University spokesperson Rick Fitzgerald explained Mason Hall was chosen as the pilot location in part because it was the site of the scare, but also since it is an LSA and central campus building used by many undergraduates. Heather Young, DPSS director of strategic commu- nications, emphasized the decision to implement door locks in Mason Hall is not directly related to the March incident, as she explained talks between LSA and DPSS began in December. City, ‘U’ add new security in buildings Mason Hall gets door locks, City Hall receives security guards and front desk COURTESY OF FRANCESCA DUONG Read more at michigandaily.com Interns present work at annual technology event CLAIRE HAO Summer News Editor FRANCESCA DUONG Daily Staff Reporter Read more at michigandaily.com Students share projects, take part in panel during ITS open house 2019 Information and Technology Services Internship Cohort students present at the ITS Internship Showcase in the Michigan League Friday.