Welcome To On The Hill
Welcome to On The Hill, a website dedicated to the history of the St. Mark's High School football program. St. Mark's, located in Newark, Delaware has forged a high level of academic and athletic excellence in the school's near five decade existence. Until now, the Spartan's rich storied history has been passed on, mostly by word of mouth, from generation to generation. With some inspiration from the late News Journal sports reporter Buddy Hurlock and a passion for history, research, and high school football, I came up with the idea of creating On The Hill back in the fall of 2012. Much has changed since then, including the scope of my ambition. What you see on the website now is close to what I had originally hoped to accomplish. That basic information, which is the foundation of any sports history site, is no longer the end goal, but the beginning, with much more to come in the future.
Please view the website as a work in progress, as I constantly look to improve both function and design. For example, the site is not mobile friendly, a drawback to using this particular host, that I believe can be improved with effort. I will also be implementing new features such as this blog, which will likely take some tweaking before it functions smoothly within the overall structure. And while the site is literally a work in progress, some of the features, due to the nature of their content, will be as well. The challenge in creating a website like On The Hill is finding the required information, there is no database or archive that will complete the task. It is much like putting together a giant puzzle, when you know some of the pieces have been sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. If these pieces are to ever be found, it will only happen with the help of the community.
The primary focus at the moment is collecting the information and getting it posted on the site. The goal is for 100 % accuracy, but once again, the data by nature can be problematic. Besides human error when entering the information on the site, it is only as accurate as the source. News media, both print and web based, are generally reliable and accurate sources, however both also fall prey to typos and human error as well. Keep this in mind when viewing the site, and point out errors that you discover. Only with your help can the website reach it's full potential. In the near future I will be posting information on the many ways those in the community can help add to the depth, color, and accuracy of On The Hill. Until then I thank you for your patience, and look forward to your cooperation.
Please view the website as a work in progress, as I constantly look to improve both function and design. For example, the site is not mobile friendly, a drawback to using this particular host, that I believe can be improved with effort. I will also be implementing new features such as this blog, which will likely take some tweaking before it functions smoothly within the overall structure. And while the site is literally a work in progress, some of the features, due to the nature of their content, will be as well. The challenge in creating a website like On The Hill is finding the required information, there is no database or archive that will complete the task. It is much like putting together a giant puzzle, when you know some of the pieces have been sucked up by the vacuum cleaner. If these pieces are to ever be found, it will only happen with the help of the community.
The primary focus at the moment is collecting the information and getting it posted on the site. The goal is for 100 % accuracy, but once again, the data by nature can be problematic. Besides human error when entering the information on the site, it is only as accurate as the source. News media, both print and web based, are generally reliable and accurate sources, however both also fall prey to typos and human error as well. Keep this in mind when viewing the site, and point out errors that you discover. Only with your help can the website reach it's full potential. In the near future I will be posting information on the many ways those in the community can help add to the depth, color, and accuracy of On The Hill. Until then I thank you for your patience, and look forward to your cooperation.