Little Miami High School seniors are building a bank website that will include enhanced customer service, design and marketing strategy.

Students enrolled in the Senior Internship program are preparing for upcoming skills and leadership competitions in DECA, a non-profit student organization focused on preparing emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

The team of Lindsey Mullins, Krista Hirth and Darian McKinley opted to research banks’ online presences in order to design their own sample bank website.

“We chose the finance operations research event, because it is something that we will always need to know about and have an understanding of to be successful later in life,” said Mullins.

As part of the DECA competition March 15-16, the students must research an existing business’ website, products and services and develop a strategic plan based on the results. The strategic plan will attempt to provide new and exciting ways to restructure, change and update that business’ website to create a wider audience and generate more customers.

“We are learning everything it takes to build a website for a small business, so they will have the resources available to compete in today’s technology-based society,” explained Hirth.

Mullins, Hirth and McKinley conducted focus group research with fellow students and adults in the community. Four computer stations allowed participants to explore various bank sites. Then, the groups came together for discussion on helpful features, design elements and navigation of each site.

The students will use that feedback for their project when they design their own site for a fictional bank. They also must develop a proposal to improve the original sites, including identifying revenue streams for websites and developing a cost analysis of changing the website.

“They are putting a lot of work into this,” instructor Nancy Henz said. “The project requires them to know about html code and web design, as well as the marketing side of the equation.”

Henz said the Senior Internship program – offered through the Warren County Career Center at Little Miami High School — provides an opportunity for seniors to explore areas of career interest by interning at two different sites each semester.

“Internships give students an in-depth look at the careers they are thinking of pursuing in college and helps them decide if that career is right for them before they spend time and money studying in college,” she said.

The DECA competitions enhance the internships, because the students work on a project closely related to their fields of interest.