Not all students enrolled in colleges and universities in Pennsylvania have access to CampusLIVE, a Web site that helps college students across the country find services and local businesses near their respective campuses. In fact, Temple is the first and only university in the commonwealth with its own CampusLIVE Web page.
The Web site was started by Jeff Cassidy, Boris Revsin and Jared Stenquist in Amherst, Mass. Stenquist, the site’s CEO, started it as a hobby while attending the University of Massachusetts as a full-time student.
The Web site is divided into six main sections: “My Quick Links,” “Weather,” “News,” “Food Finder,” “Gmail,” “Poll” and “Taxi Stand.” In the “Food Finder” section, there are 37 restaurants listed with their hours of operation, menus, student reviews and ratings. The “Taxi Stand” lists five numbers for taxis that service the area near Main Campus.
“For everything to be in one central location is really helpful for students, especially the restaurant menus,” said junior education major Kamille Guinn. “They really should send a mass e-mail out to all Temple students about CampusLIVE because most students haven’t heard about it yet.”
There are quick links to all Temple-related pages such as Temple’s homepage, TUportal, OWLnet, TUmail, Shuttle Services schedules, Cherry & White Pages and Temple Athletics.
The links do not end there. Others include: Craigslist, TV Guide, Google, Yahoo, eBay, MySpace, Pandora Radio, Wikipedia, YouTube, Amazon and movie theater showtimes.
CampusLIVE began as a simple food finder and online academic resource.
“We want every restaurant in the Philadelphia area to have their menu listed on CampusLIVE,” reads a disclaimer in this section. “That way, whenever you need to find something to eat, you’ll see every option. If we’re missing your favorite, suggest a restaurant now. We’ll add it ASAP.”
The company has since expanded to 60 college campuses and is planning for an additional 500 in the upcoming semesters.
The CampusLIVE team now includes seven former college students, one of whom is a Temple alumnus. In 2008, the founders ranked third out of 25 finalists for Business Week’s “America’s Best Entrepreneurs 25 and Under.”
The default theme for Temple’s CampusLIVE page appropriately contains the university’s colors, cherry and white. Students can choose from a myriad of other backgrounds, colors and designs, from sunsets and penguins to Justin Timberlake’s six-pack abs.
Students have the option of customizing quick links, news and weather sections on the site. Registration is free, and to customize the site, students need to create an account by providing an e-mail address and password.
Students can log on to Facebook from the site to receive notifications about messages, event invites or friend requests. The news section displays top stories from The Temple News, CNN, ESPN, the Wall Street Journal and Perez Hilton.
With all these links available at students’ fingertips, it is no surprise why the Web site’s slogan is “The Ultimate Homepage for College Students.”
LaToya Allen can be reached at latoyaallen@temple.edu.
this is pretty cool latoya… how long has it been up?
Thank you! The Temple-custom site has been up for a little over a month.
good find for a homepage