A group of technologically savvy Pennsylvania high school students is helping bring an interactive, online hub of voting information to Penn State students through a student organization called P.S. U Vote.

P.S. U Vote is a non-partisan student organization dedicated to three goals, said Benjamin Holsinger (senior-communication arts and sciences).

The first is getting students registered to vote. The second is helping them to become informed on important issues, and the last is to ensure that they get to the polls on election days, Holsinger said.

The group is in the process of planning several initiatives for the fall, including having two members dress up in Uncle Sam costumes to try
to generate interest in its project, and organizing a forum called, "What'sat Stake," in which students can dis-
cuss important campaign issues.

Holsinger worked to develop a Web site with students from the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information Technology, a five-week state-sponsored program that allows selected high school students to spend a summer learning information technology in a college environment.

Holsinger expressed to the students the details of the type of Web site his organization required, and the students worked with people in the Information Sciences and Technology department to create the site.

Cecelia Merkel, an instructor in the IST School, described the Web site's creation process as a series of consultations between the "client" (Holsinger) and the Governor's School students.

"In the first couple weeks students interviewed Ben about the organization, and every week as they designed the site they asked, 'Is this right?' and 'Is this what you want?' Merkel said. "And then Penn State students came in to test what they'd done. We had students bang on the site and 'think aloud,' meaning we asked them to say aloud what they're thinking of the interface as they go along."

She said the reaction was "quite good" and that the site will probably be up and running in a few weeks.

Alex Ho, a 17-year-old Governor's School student from Springfield, said he was happy with his experience working on the Web site, after originally being overwhelmed by the task.

"I think it's really good. It's really hard to work with a bias," he said. "Some of us are really liberal, some of us are really conservative, some are basically neutral. If [the project is] non-partisan, we don't have to worry about getting into fights all the time."

Holsinger said he enjoyed working with the students and was pleased with the outcome. He hopes that eventually the site will involve student polls, the results of which will be publicized on a counter in the HUB-Robeson Center.