Tuesday evening thoughts - May 13, 2008
Well with Mother's day and a hectic weekend Monday morning muses quickly turned into Tuesday evening thoughts...Happy Belated Mother's day to all you mom's out there...
Last Thursday night I got the privilege of being on the host committee for the TechNight 6.0 fundraiser for Tech Corps Ohio. I've previously written about the good works being done by Tech Corps Ohio but wanted to share with a conversation with bright young man Richard.
I walked into the room and up to a table where Elijah was standing and asked him to share his story. He spoke excited about the being in Tech Corps and shared his story about betting involved with a student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. He had gotten back from the national convention where his student chapter had competed in a national math competition. In their first attempt they placed fifth in the nation...wow....that's very cool. He was justifiably very proud of their accomplishment and we as a community should be to. Wouldn't it be something if we as a community celebrated academic achievement the same way we celebrate athletic achievement? Isn't a foundation of building our tech community getting our young people excited about academics and then applying those smarts in different technology fields...?
At the end of our conversation the point that stuck with me was that here was a young man that because of this experience was now focused on a path in a technical career that #1 - he didn't know was even a path #2 - he didn't think that he could get on that path. Look for Elijah in a few years I'm sure we'll here from him again.
A special thanks to Barb Boyd (from Nationwide) for her leadership as the Tech Corps Ohio chair and Kristy Thompson ( Honda ) for being the TCOH\NSBE Jr advisor.
Call to action:
1. Getting our young people involved in technology is a challenge we have in all of our communities. As a father of 4 girls (ages 10 -14) it's not easy for me to find programs to get them involved in that expose them to various technologies. Tech Corps Ohio has a model that can be replicated in any school district it just takes a little time and investment. If you're interested in bringing it to your community contact Lisa Chambers at lisa@techcorpsohio.org or 614.583.9211
2. Tech Corps Ohio is looking for summer intern sites. In their words:
We need your help! Please get involved with the City Student TECH CORPS program by providing our students with a 10-week (June 16– August 22, 2008) technology-related work experience. Students will visit your site 30 hours each week and we ask that you provide them with the opportunity to apply the technology and soft skills they have learned in the program. City Student TECH CORPS will supplement the students’ salary at $7/hour. Therefore, there is NO COST to you!
Peace out,
Ben
Last Thursday night I got the privilege of being on the host committee for the TechNight 6.0 fundraiser for Tech Corps Ohio. I've previously written about the good works being done by Tech Corps Ohio but wanted to share with a conversation with bright young man Richard.
I walked into the room and up to a table where Elijah was standing and asked him to share his story. He spoke excited about the being in Tech Corps and shared his story about betting involved with a student chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. He had gotten back from the national convention where his student chapter had competed in a national math competition. In their first attempt they placed fifth in the nation...wow....that's very cool. He was justifiably very proud of their accomplishment and we as a community should be to. Wouldn't it be something if we as a community celebrated academic achievement the same way we celebrate athletic achievement? Isn't a foundation of building our tech community getting our young people excited about academics and then applying those smarts in different technology fields...?
At the end of our conversation the point that stuck with me was that here was a young man that because of this experience was now focused on a path in a technical career that #1 - he didn't know was even a path #2 - he didn't think that he could get on that path. Look for Elijah in a few years I'm sure we'll here from him again.
A special thanks to Barb Boyd (from Nationwide) for her leadership as the Tech Corps Ohio chair and Kristy Thompson ( Honda ) for being the TCOH\NSBE Jr advisor.
Call to action:
1. Getting our young people involved in technology is a challenge we have in all of our communities. As a father of 4 girls (ages 10 -14) it's not easy for me to find programs to get them involved in that expose them to various technologies. Tech Corps Ohio has a model that can be replicated in any school district it just takes a little time and investment. If you're interested in bringing it to your community contact Lisa Chambers at lisa@techcorpsohio.org or 614.583.9211
2. Tech Corps Ohio is looking for summer intern sites. In their words:
We need your help! Please get involved with the City Student TECH CORPS program by providing our students with a 10-week (June 16– August 22, 2008) technology-related work experience. Students will visit your site 30 hours each week and we ask that you provide them with the opportunity to apply the technology and soft skills they have learned in the program. City Student TECH CORPS will supplement the students’ salary at $7/hour. Therefore, there is NO COST to you!
Peace out,
Ben
posted by Ben Blanquera at
6:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home