What first began as a Commerce School project has evolved into a budding Internet business to help students and parents deal with the intricate planning associated with college graduation.
Absolutegrad.com, started by 1999 Commerce graduate Dan Mattock, helps with the itty-bitty graduation details - everything from finding a good hotel to ordering announcements online. This year, Mattock approached five Engineering School students to consider working on the site for their Capstone project, a thesis-like project all Engineering students must complete before graduation.
"My peers and I were going through the hassles associated with preparing ourselves and our families for college graduation...making hotel and restaurant reservations, ordering regalia and announcements and informing our family members about graduation events and gift ideas," Mattock said. These hassles inspired the creation of absolutegrad.com.
The site offers students and their families a central online platform - a "Graduation Center" - to meet and coordinate graduation planning. Family members can visit and learn about scheduled events, local hotels and restaurants and even gift items that appeal to the graduating student.
While the concept behind absolutegrad.com was the brainchild of Dan Mattock, the team of five Engineering students - Scott Chapman, Ethan Eron, Andrew Orsi, Mark Williamson and Brian Blum - are in charge of organizing the site's technical infrastructure.
"When [Dan] started this company in the spring of 1999, I started talking to him about my interest in Web development. He had the business and financial talent to get the company moving but lacked the technical skills," Blum said.
Being able to run a site like this one involves a lot of technical expertise. "In the summer of 1999, I began learning a development software called Cold Fusion, and by the end of the summer we had a simple prototype built for the site," he said.
The group spent the fall semester re-building the site, talking to potential clients, researching software alternatives and generally learning about the various responsibilities and duties of a real Web development team.
"From negotiating with multi-million dollar companies, to debating with accountants over tax issues, to reworking lines of computer code, our team has been exposed to situations that rarely come across the path of recent college graduates and college students," Dan Mattock said.
Mike Mattock, Dan's brother, also has gotten in on the business.
As a law student at George Mason University, Mike Mattock is interested in the legal aspects of the company.
"Absolutegrad.com is, and will continue to be, a practical opportunity for students to apply the concepts they learn in the classroom. Additionally, the site provides a service that will be helpful to students, their families, and friends as they prepare for graduation," Mike Mattock said.
Dan Mattock said he believes the site has a bright future. "Our company is in a unique position to follow various paths that can add value to students and their families. I expect the company to continue to provide a learning environment for its contributors and members," he said.
"I also expect absolutegrad.com to increase the size and scope of its online offerings by including e-commerce applications and other value-added services by next year. Once the company has proven itself as a true value creation mechanism at U.Va., we are excited about expanding our service to other schools to help more students and families in need," Dan said.
Absolutegrad.com currently is sponsored by Omni Hotels, Macromedia, Inc. and Allaire.
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