InYourClass.com: Who is in Your Class?

"Who's in your class?"  Inyourclass.com is the student project turned student network answering this question for hundreds students. Created in 2009 by four friends at City College who missing the feeling of community on campus, the site is now generating notable administration buzz and connecting classrooms throughout the CUNY system.So what is inyourclass.com? "It's like Facebook, Twitter, Ning, Craigslist and Blackboard all in one," said Arber Ruci, the site's Chief Executive Officer. Ruci is often surprised by the growing success of the site that began as a simple assignment. "I was asked to come up with a service project for the community," he said. Ruci was serving as a fellow in the CUNY Leadership Academy (now known as the Malave Leadership Academy). Unsure of what to do, he remembered the school he had attended before transferring to CCNY. Thinking about his experience on campus, he decided to create a site that would build a community for CUNY students. "I went to a private school before this," Ruci recalled. "Living on campus you know people but [at City] it's hard to know people in your classes and stuff. It's a commuter school."Excited by the basic idea, Ruci introduced it to a group of friends while hanging out one night. Fani Maksakuli, the site's Director of Research & Development, was one the first to hop on board the project. Maksakuli and Ruci were childhood friends in their native country, Albania.  He believed that creating a site would improve life as students in the CUNY system. "I [thought] Inyourclass.com should be the place where students feel like they are in school," said Maksakuli. "We want people to be involved." The pair was also joined by Ari Xhelo. A Civil Engineering major at CCNY, Xhelo manages current and future revenue for the site.With his two friends on board, Ruci and the team began to build a plan for Inyourclass.com. As a member of the Entrepreneur club, Albanian Students Association, and the Psychology club, Ruci had developed relationships with a number of students and staff members on campus, and while he received some advice from professors on campus, he believed the site needed more development support.In the spring of 2009, the team entered the Baruch College Invitational Entrepreneurship Competition, a two-semester-long event providing an educational and entrepreneurial experience for select groups of New York City students. As participants in the competition, the team received a mentor to assist with proposal development. The mentor, a retired Citi Bank executive, supported the team as they pitched the idea for Inyourclass.com. Out of 103 concepts submitted, their proposal was chosen as one of twelve finalists for the social venture track category. The team did not place in the top three, but received the 4th place Book Award. When asked how they felt about their placing in the contest, Maksakuli did not hesitate to voice his opinion."We came in 4th," he said glancing at Ruci, "but we should have won honestly. We had a product already." They weren't alone on that belief. After the competition, their mentor offered to invest money in the project. Excited to get started, Ruci, Maksakuli and Xhelo agreed to accept the help. Unfortunately, after months of receiving no payments, they grew suspicious. "When we got in contact with him, he said he wanted more than a small share, said Ruci. "He wanted to be the C.E.O. Well, as you can see, we let him go."With no money for their project, Ruci, Maksakuli and Xhelo returned to City College with strengthened confidence in its potential. Prepared to launch Inyourclass.com, they enlisted the help of Serge Agroskin, a friend and former developer at a travel company. Agroskin is currently the site's Chief Officer of Technology. In the fall of 2010, Inyourclass.com was fully launched. The site has gained support from students as well as professors, and most recently, it was received by City College's administration. "We presented the site to President Lisa [Staiano-Coico]. She loved it. Not just her, but the deans and all the top people." It currently has 800 members, but as the administrative support grows, Ruci is sure the site's membership will follow. "The site's logo will be on every coffee cup holder on campus. We hope that will get the word out."The slightly shy group soon received the nickname "Inyourclass guys", but they do not always like it said Ruci. "People always say 'Hey! You're the Inyourclass guy!' I always laugh. I have a name, you know?" The team enjoys running the site and hopes to continue helping the CUNY online community grow.When asked about the comparisons to Facebook, Ruci, an original member of Facebook's online community, said he admires the Facebook story-even going to see the Social Network after the interview-but shuts down any comparisons to the site or to Mark Zuckerberg, the social network's billionaire founder. "I like Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg," he laughed, "but we are different."