TOP 10 REASONS TO ATTEND FREX 2020

Calling all accepted students for our Freshman Experience weekend extravaganza, FReX! Scheduled for March 13-14, 2020 and April 10-11, 2020, FReX is your opportunity to try Neumont on and see if it’s a good fit for your college journey. Below are our top ten reasons you should attend FReX this spring:

1. FIND NEW FRIENDS. You’ll get to meet and mingle with your future classmates long before school even starts. This is a great way to connect with friends you’ve made on our Discord server and maybe find that perfect roommate.

2. EXPLORE THE CITY. Neumont’s campus sits in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Everything a student needs to survive at college is close by: restaurants, shopping, museums, movie theaters, and concert venues surround the campus. While you’re visiting, you can explore most of these using Utah’s light rail system, TRAX.

3. MEET CURRENT STUDENTS. Current Neumont students in their natural habitats are an awe-inspiring sight. During FReX you’ll have the opportunity to hang out with them at the Student Social and learn more about the day-to-day life at Neumont.

4. SEE STUDENT PROJECTS. We pride ourselves on our hands-on, project-based learning; now you can see it up close and personal. During your visit, current students will demo their projects and you can see what our students get to create every day.

5. HISTORIC BUILDING TOUR. Neumont’s campus is housed in a historic, 12-story building that was renovated to meet the needs of our high-tech, modern-learning community. This site used to be a Pony Express stop! And you can still see the original 1924 boilers for the building down in the basement. During FReX you’ll get a chance to explore the campus and learn more about our building’s iconic history.

6. YOUR NEW DIGS. Take a tour of one of our student apartments, meet the Resident Advisors, and ask our Student Affairs team any questions you might have. This is a great way to start planning for what you need to bring (like that top-end espresso machine!).

7. STUDENT SOCIAL HAPPENINGS. Friday night at FReX is a highlight for many future Neubies. The Student Social brings together all things game – everything from console, to table-top, to RPGs. We provide the food and drinks to keep things rolling, you provide the nimble thumbs and wrists (did we mention billiards and ping pong?).

8. ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED. “What’s Neumont really like?” “Will I like it there?” “Is Salt Lake really a fun city?” “Will I meet anybody I’ll like?” FReX is all about getting your questions answered. You can speak to key members of faculty and staff while you’re here, too. Ask them anything! We want to be sure you leave with all the information you need to make the best decision for you.

9. COMPLIMENTARY HOTEL OFFER*. We think you’ll like Neumont so much, we’re offering our accepted students and their parent(s), guardian(s), or spouse a complimentary hotel room for up to two nights. Find out more, including eligibility requirements and booking details here.

10. THE NEUMONT EXPERIENCE. Unless you visit, how will you know? We take tremendous pride in our students, our alumni, our faculty, and our staff. We offer an experience that no other school can match. Come and see for yourself!

If you haven’t received your admission decision yet, submit your Application for Admission. If you’ve already been accepted, register for FReX through the Admission Portal. And be sure to join in the fun on the Neumont 2023 Discord Channel. Your newest friends are waiting there to meet you!

*Neumont will provide one complimentary room for accepted students and their parents, guardians, or spouse, at a hotel of the College's choosing.

• Guests traveling more than 50 miles are provided a two-night complimentary stay.

• Guests traveling less than 50 miles are provided a one-night complimentary stay.

Hotel rooms are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. We strongly encourage visiting families to make travel plans and book their hotel early.

For additional information and eligibility, visit the FReX webpage.

NEUMONT LAUNCHes APP FOR UTAH JAZZ

The time has come to brag about our recent partnership with our local NBA team, the Utah Jazz. During their 2018 season, we paired with the Jazz through our Enterprise Partner program to develop a mobile game application, Splash Uncles, for them to engage fans and utilize in their marketing efforts.

Splash Uncles was conceptualized, created, and executed solely by our senior students, Brendan Cleveland, Dakota Jones, Robyn Nomland, and Scott Phillips, with additional assistance from Trent Castro and Michael Vanderlip. The game was built with Unity using C# as the programming language, along with Photoshop and Maya to create the visual art.

This Enterprise Project is now a featured game on the NBA team’s website and accessible for any fan to download from the app store. Splash Uncles is an interactive game in which the users select a star Jazz player to score baskets, while simultaneously avoiding obstacles and making trick shots. To take your shot at Splash Uncles (pun intended), play here.

This project was led by our Software and Game Development Chair, Raymond Maple. He attributed the success of this project to the self-motivated and professional attitudes of the students and their collective balance of creative and technical skills. Maple elaborated by saying, “I was so impressed with the way our Neumont students were able to take charge of this project and lead it to a successful launch. Their determination to go above and beyond was a testament of the students’ work ethic and passion for development. Our client was impressed and pleased with the final product and with the quality of work that our students provided.”

When asked about working with our college, the Utah Jazz praised the process, results, and Neumont as a whole. "Working with the students from Neumont on the Splash Uncles game was a delight. From concept to final deployment, the students were dedicated to creating something that was not only fun to play, but also connected with Jazz fans in a unique way. The scope of the project was ambitious, and we ran into some technical hurdles along the way—but in the end the students exceeded expectations and delivered an amazing game in a rapid development environment. Working with Neumont College of Computer Science was a great experience."

For more information about our Enterprise Project program, please contact the Office of Corporate Relations at employers@neumont.edu.

SUMMER SCHOLARS PROGRAM

The summer of 2019 was a busy one for Neumont as we hosted our first Summer Scholars program. We invited local Utah high school students to participate in a free five-week computer science course at our downtown Salt Lake City campus.

Summer Scholars courses were taught by two of our senior faculty members–Tim Clark, vice president of academic operations and Benjamin Fletcher, vice president of business operations and information technology. Participants chose a course in either Web Development or Networking. The Web Development course focused on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript coding languages. The Networking course was designed to introduce students to the basics of IP-based networking and the OSI-TCP/IP models. Additionally, participants were challenged with creating LAN and WAN networks culminating in a re-creation of the internet.

Tim Clark described the reasoning for extending Neumont’s academics beyond just college students. “At Neumont, improving student lives is not limited to our enrolled college students, it also includes high school instructors and students within our own community. Along with supplying volunteer teaching resources at UACTE technical conferences for high school instructors, we made the decision to provide free technical college credit through our Summer Scholars program. We simply want to make the biggest impact we can on Utah high schools by helping instructors teach tech better and help students understand the importance of a degree and career in the field of technology.”

Throughout his teaching experience during Summer Scholars, Benjamin Fletcher continually reinforced to high school students that a career in tech is a possibility. “Helping Utah students understand that technology is an option for them is critical. Too often I hear ‘Computer Science is too hard,’ or ‘I’m not good at math or science, so it’s not an option for me.”’  With the Neumont Summer Scholars program we are dispelling those myths and showing local Utah students they can succeed and thrive in computer science disciplines. These students grew up with computers in their hands from day one, and they are capable of great things if we just show them how and give them the confidence to succeed.”

In the summer of 2020, we will once again host the Summer Scholars program and will continue further educating both Utah high school students and teachers in the field of computer science.

NEUMONT’S NEWEST DEGREE

Summer is finally here and it’s almost time to start enrolling students in our newest degree program. Effective September 30, 2019, Neumont College of Computer Science will begin offering a Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering.

Our Software Engineering degree is focused on designing and creating enterprise-grade software and services that run in the cloud and provide support for companies around the globe. Students enrolled in this degree path will learn how to utilize the latest cloud technologies like Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure, as well as how to integrate them with various platforms. This program is designed to equip graduates with the extensive knowledge in modern methodologies and coding practices required to succeed in the software engineering industry.

Graduates of the Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering degree will be prepared to enter a career path as a software engineer, back-end engineer, cloud engineer, or IT consultant. The coursework is centered primarily around innovative and effective improvements in large-scale distributed systems developed and deployed in the cloud.

Neumont’s President, Dr. Aaron Reed Ed.D., Ph.D., is elated to announce our latest degree addition. “Although each of our programs have roots in software development, this is our first program solely focused on the technologies, algorithms, and processes required to be a successful software engineer in today’s world. We are looking forward to welcoming the visionary students who will enroll in this program and we’re confident they will enjoy tremendous professional success after completing their education at Neumont.”

To learn more about our newly announced Bachelor of Science in Software Engineering degree, including requirements, expectations, and courses, head to www.neumont.edu/bsse.

CAPSTONE PROJECT INVITATIONAL

Each year at Neumont College of Computer Science, our students exceed expectations and create remarkable projects. To display their work, we host the Capstone Project Invitational–a 10-week project-based challenge–where faculty selected students present their final product to a panel of industry professionals and alumni. In addition, we extend the invitation to Neumont students, staff, and community members to bask in the effort, progress, and successes of our presenters. Below you’ll get a quick look at the finalist and their projects from our CPI 2019 event:

MADELINE RICHARD

Senior, Madeline Richard majoring in BSWD, created Photofolio, a social networking website. Her site is used as an online portfolio building tool for photographers to highlight and sell their work. If you’re an aspiring photographer, this is the perfect platform for you! On the technological front, Madeline utilized the MERN stack (MongoDB, Express, React, and Node), Redux, Cayman, AWS technologies including S3 buckets.

NATHAN GIFT

Nathan Gift, graduating this fall with a BSCS major, built a web application that allows users to generate music on the go. His project has the ability to create computer generated original songs based on a set of parameters–preferred instruments, rhythm, duration. Nathan utilized Spring Boot, JavaScript, HTML, J music, and Timidity. For music enthusiasts and amateur video creators, this is the app for you.

COLIN MISBACH

Colin Misbach, Neumont senior who will be graduating with a BSGD major, spearheaded his project, Nomads, which is a social media platform for gaming connoisseurs. The podium allows players to connect on a central hub and communicate with others also engaging in the site. Colin used Unity and high-level API’s for this project. Neumont is full of gamers and you know we’re really looking forward to exploring Nomad.

MELISSA BUENA

If you’re a foodie, then soon-to-be grad with a degree in BSWD Melissa Buena’s app is for you. Her project allows users to find unique and varied food options near them. The application function is similar to that of Tinder, where the users can swipe through choices based on their search preferences. Melissa intended to give food lovers more opportunities to discover different restaurants when launching this app. When creating Crave, she used the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, Angular, and Node). If your stomach is grumbling, it’s time to pull up Crave.

RAMON CABALLERO

Lastly, Ramon Caballero Villegas who’s working towards his degree in BSCS, created a martial art training program in his senior year at Neumont. This will allow a master to record their technique and a student can then go home, review, and practice. For his project, he used C# as the main scripting language, Unity as the game engine, and a Microsoft Kinect to capture body movement and positioning data.

GET THE MOST OUT OF FREX

FReX is upon us, but to get the most of this epic freshman experience here at Neumont, you’ve got to properly prepare. Don’t worry, we’ve got your back with this helpful FReX checklist for your weekend adventure in Salt Lake City. Follow along for what-to-wear tips, info on the event agenda, and how to get the most out of your FReX experience.   

PRIOR

• Talk to your parents and get a travel game plan together. Whether you’re getting to FReX by air or car, make your travel plans early to ensure the best pricing and availability.

• Book your complimentary hotel early. If you’ll be traveling more than 50 miles to attend FReX, be sure to book your complimentary hotel stay early.

• Review the FReX agenda: Start getting excited about your Neumont visit by downloading the FReX Program Guide. You’ll find the full event agenda and maps to help familiarize yourself with Salt Lake.

• Connect with other future FReXers on Discord: If you haven’t done so already, check out our Discord server. FReXers can connect on the FReX channel and find out who else will be attending your FReX event date.

PACKING

• Wear comfortable shoes: We promise a fun-filled weekend and recommend wearing comfortable shoes. There will be some light walking as we travel to campus, as well as lots of time on your feet as you explore campus and scheduled activities.

• Bring a jacket: Spring time in Salt Lake City is notorious for changing on a dime. Check the weather report before your visit and be prepared for the temperamental temperature shifts.

• Prepare a list of questions: Take advantage of this opportunity to get your burning questions about Neumont answered. Work with your parents and come prepared with a list of questions you can ask staff, faculty, and current students. Bonus–this is a great excuse to network.

DURING

• Avoid the line: If you want to avoid waiting in line for event check-in, plan on showing about halfway through the check-in process. You’ll have plenty of time to get checked-in, grab some breakfast refreshments, and find a seat.

• Meet your future friends: Chances are you’re going to make some new friends at FReX, possibly including your future roommate(s). Be sure to wear your FReX name badge (you’ll receive one at event check-in) so everyone can learn your name.

• Experience TRAX: FReX attendees will be provided a UTA pass to use on Saturday, April 19th to experience TRAX, Salt Lake City’s light rail system. We recommend utilizing the TRAX to explore downtown and you can see the schedule and stop locations here.

• Participate in all the activities: To know what’s going on at all times, download the Attendify app from the app store. From there, you’ll be able to review the FReX Agenda Program Guide. Lastly, don’t forget to post your FReX pics to the social media feed on Attendify and hashtag #FReX in your posts on social media.