USC Sumter students now have everything they need at the touch of an app.
They can get everything from news to social media updates, access to current academic and athletic schedules as well as the ability to place an order with the campus food court.
“We, like everyone else, realized that we need to have a faster way for current students and potential students to be able to find information in one place,” said Misty Hatfield, marketing and public relations director of USC Sumter. “When our admissions counselors are out they can say, ‘you need to go right here to this app and you can find everything you need to know about USC Sumter in one spot.’”
The Sumter campus app has had over 300 downloads since it was launched in mid-April. Hatfield believes this number is impressive for the size of the campus, which has about 1,000 students in each admitted class.
The app was designed to condense information and simply facilitate the process of students obtaining information. Although this feature is not used often, administration can contact students through the app as well.
“It caters really to both current students and potential students, but I didn’t want it to be a mini-version of our website because that’s not effective,” Hatfield said. “I wanted it to be anything that they need within hands-reach in one spot.”
Hatfield, who single-handedly runs USC Sumter’s public relations department, got the idea for the app after looking around at other universities. She asked Beale Bagley, a media relations company based in Columbia, to create the app in January.
“We just realized that it’s almost becoming a necessity to stay ahead of technology and stay on top of things that students need,” Hatfield said. “We’re just trying to do that and show the students we’re there for them and we’re trying to give them what all they need and reach out to them as much as possible.”
The app was created with the needs of current and prospective students in mind, although it is presented to parents at orientation.
“They’ve been really grateful so far to have the information that’s there,” Hatfield said. “Our numbers of parents that attend orientation just continue to grow, and so we tell them about it at orientation and find that they download it just as much as students do.”
Hatfield is always working to keep the app fresh and up to date. She hopes to add a webcam feature within the next few weeks. Users would be able to view footage from webcams of the student union and the campus in general, visible only through the app.
After USC Sumter began advertising the app, USC Lancaster called. Officials at that campus have reached out to the company Hatfield used, and they are discussing the possibility of starting the app at the Lancaster campus.
Hatfield said USC Lancaster is definitely interested in mirroring the app, but it is unclear whether or not USC Columbia and other satellite campuses will take on a similar project.