JD
Joshua DeSouza
  • Business Information Systems. DeSouza was also awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
  • Class of 2018
  • Gales Ferry, CT

Eastern Student Joshua DeSouza of Gales Ferry Part of Winning Team at National AITP Collegiate Conference

2017 May 8

A team of Eastern Connecticut State University students recently won fourth place at the 2017 Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) National Collegiate Conference which was held in St. Louis, MO.

Joshua DeSouza '17 of Gales Ferry was one of the participating students. DeSouza's major is Business Administration and Business Information Systems.

The team placed in the top five in the "Database-Driven Web Site Competition," having competed against 72 other teams from around the country. The Eastern team created a web site for Grow Windham, a nonprofit agency in the Willimantic area that teaches nutrition and gardening skills to K-12 youth. The functionality of the web site will help Grow Windham to operate more efficiently and effectively in completing day-to-day tasks in a timely manner. It will also assist the organization in vital tasks such as obtaining federal grants and community outreach.

Along with competing in the database web site competition, the Eastern students also competed in the Office Solutions, Network Design, PC Troubleshooting, Java Developer and Database Design categories.

"Our students would like to thank Cigna for being a corporate sponsor for the second year in a row. They would also like to thank the ECSU Foundation, the Office of Student Activities, the Center for Community Engagement and Jacob Easley, dean of the School of Education and Professional Studies, for their support," said Business Information Professor Alex Citurs.

Eastern's AITP chapter has placed in the top 10 nationally in this competition eight times, taking first place in 2010 and third place in 2015. The Eastern team is composed of students from the Business Information Systems, Business Administration and Computer Science programs, all of whom are motivated to utilize and expand their biz-tech skills by helping local nonprofits serve the eastern Connecticut area.