Students' site links campus buyers, sellers

Two seniors sacrificed their spring break plans to travel to the Dominican Republic and instead stayed on campus, contributing more than 100 hours each to finalizing their new Web site.

"My phone bill was out of control," College senior and co-creator Andrew Kortina said. "I was on the phone and computer all of spring break working."

But his time and effort seem to have paid off. Kortina and his freshman-year roommate, Iqram Magdon-Ismail, recently launched their online bulletin board -- called "My Campus Post."

Created for students, faculty and staff, the site lets users buy and advertise anything from books and furniture to apartments they are looking to sublet. There are currently more than 500 users registered at seven schools, including those from recently added networks at the University of Texas at Austin, Georgia Tech and University of Georgia.

Kortina and Magdon-Ismail, who have both designed Web sites before, teamed up with two other friends last year to start planning the nonprofit online network. They spent the money they had saved for their spring break trip to finance expenses associated with the project, such as 10,000 business cards and free drinks for the site's first users.

Since then, the two have been distributing flyers on Locust Walk to promote the site. About 100 people also registered for the site at its launch party at Smokey Joe's in March.

Magdon-Ismail said that what distinguishes www.mycampuspost.com -- which functions like more prominent online selling sites like Craig's List -- is its accessibility and its sense of community.

"There are things out there that are like this, but to make ours the best possible, any user can use it with the utmost ease," Magdon-Ismail said.

The Engineering senior added that the site also builds trust among its users. He said that he plans on submitting the site as his senior design project for his computer science major.

Shira Fix, an administrative assistant at the School of Arts and Sciences Dean's Office, was one of the first 40 at the party to receive a free drink. Now a registered user, she plans to post her printer and furniture soon.

"There is a need for it," Fix said. "I like the fact that it includes faculty and staff as well."

Fix and other users can choose to either limit their customers to the University or to "nearby schools," which for Penn includes Temple, Drexel and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

School of Engineering and Applied Science Director of Academic Affairs Joseph Sun said that the school is enthusiastic and supportive of such project-businesses as My Campus Post.

"The students involved have taken a great initiative," Sun said. "They're able to adopt an academic product ... and start a business with technology at its core."

Kortina and Magdon-Ismail said that they plan to continue to update and improve the site for free after they graduate.

"We'll make changes to keep people coming back to the Web site [and] make the site run smoothly," Magdon-Ismail said.

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