As this project draws to a close, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on all the opportunities this project has given me and all the things I have learned in the past four months. To me, this project was so much more than the technical aspect of the website editing. In my opinion, the most valuable part of this project was the historical aspect, learning about the deep, extensive roots of historical Harrisburg that I never knew existed and having multiple opportunities to travel to Harrisburg with a group and learn the history in person.
The main part of my project involved editing the Digital Harrisburg website. I was given tasks such as changing the text color or background photos. Each of these tasks was supposed to take me a day or so to complete, but I proved to have a knack for working with the WordPress software and completed nearly all the tasks in half an hour or less each. I learned a lot from this, even though it was not much in the grand scheme of things. If anything, I learned that while I am not very good at coding websites, I am very skilled at editing websites that are built on a template.
My favorite part of the entire course, however, had nothing to do with the website itself at all. My favorite part was when I was given a chance to travel to Harrisburg on a Friday night and see a play about the musical history of the historical African American community of Harrisburg By Sharia Benn and the Sankofa Theatre Company. That play brought multiple classes full circle for me, not just this one. I learned more about music artists that I had done coursework on the semester before in an American Popular Music class. This play brought history to life for me. And so, I believe, did this entire course.
Link to the website: https://digitalharrisburg.com
Alli Swank is a graduating senior in English at Messiah completing this project for her ELI and internship credits.
Digital Harrisburg 