Student Highlight: Drew Heiss

Stubborn, creative, and a little tired come together to form the Digital Corps Drew Heiss. Drew uses these words to describe himself as he’s approaching the end of his senior year at Ball State as a Master on the Development team. He reflects on his journey since joining the Digital Corps his sophomore year and realized that his love for coding grew when he saw that his creations help others.

One project that stays close to his heart is the Mutt Board. From his usual seat in the office, he can observe students enjoying the interactive board in the hallway of the Ball Communications building, giving Drew all the “warm and fuzzy” feelings.  

“It’s super rewarding for me to see people use the board.”

While Drew is consistently working on a variety of projects, his main focus has been on the Digital Corps Headquarters, commonly referred to as DCHQ. While immersed in the coding world, Drew navigates all the moving parts behind this project, experiments with new methods, and collaborates with others outside of his usual team. Working with students with different learning styles and workflows can be challenging.

“It can be frustrating working with people who don’t think the same way I do, but overall, it’s cool because it’s so beneficial.”

For Drew, the driving force behind this complicated project remains the same. He loves the idea that whatever he creates will be there to help people, including the future Corps students.

Student getting a mic placed on a video shoot

“It’s a big technical challenge, but I know that it will get used – so that keeps me going.”

When Drew isn’t gathering information for his next project or gaining experience in coding and development, he spends a lot of his time drawing. Rarely without his sketchbook, he uses black ink pens to fuel his creative outlet. While going straight in with ink is intimidating for some, Drew takes on his sketches with a confident approach, “If I mess up, I correct it as much as I can without erasing it, and then I just keep pushing forward.”

This mindset mirrors his approach to coding, where learning involves experiencing and overcoming challenges. Drew emphasizes that working through the problems, rather than erasing them, allows for a more valuable learning experience.

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