Showing posts with label BDPA Chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BDPA Chicago. Show all posts

Sunday, February 9, 2014

This Week in BDPA (February 9-15, 2014)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar:
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.
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Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahoma & Texas Renews BDPA Gold Level Sponsorship

Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL, MT, NM, OK and TX earned the highest honors that BDPA offers as its Epsilon Award winner - 'Top Company for Blacks in IT' - in three different years ... most recently in 2013. As such, National BDPA proudly announced that the company renewed its sponsorship commitment in 2014 at the Gold level. The continuing support of BDPA on-going diversity and inclusion efforts on behalf of the information technology industry is rapidly becoming legendary.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and several subsidiaries are part of Health Care Service Corporation, the largest customer-owned health benefits company in the United States and fourth largest overall.
Sheila Marionneaux
Ms. Sheila Marionneaux, Office of the Chief Information Office, said "At Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL, MT, NM, OK and TX, we are committed to BDPA, a longtime community partner, to sustain and further develop valuable technology and leadership competencies for both students and adults. We are excited and devoted to our partnership and look forward to an ongoing alliance with BDPA in 2014 to meet our mutual objectives".
There are dozens of BCBS employees in both Chicago and Dallas.  The 2014 sponsorship includes funding support for programs and services implemented by local BDPA chapters in those two chapters.
BDPA Chicago chapter president Reggie Rush said,  "BDPA Chicago Chapter is proud of our long standing partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL. BDPA professional and educational programming, access to experienced professionals and development of future IT Talent through our student programs afford companies such as BCBS to achieve their Diversity/Inclusion and citizenship objectives."
The company plans to take full advantage of the BDPA Job Board in its efforts to recruit diverse information technology talent in the coming weeks and months.  Also, the company will have major visibility at the 2014 National BDPA Technology Conference in a variety of venues.
Dr. Craig Brown
On behalf of the National Board of Directors and the National Executive Committee It is my honor and privilege to welcome Blue Cross Blue Shield of IL, MT, NM, OK & TX as a returning Gold Level Sponsor. We could not provide the member services that our professional and student members receive without the support of organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield IL, MT, NM, OK & TX” said Dr. Craig Brown, National BDPA president.
BDPA is recognized nationally as a global member-focused technology organization with over 45 active chapters in the United States. BDPA continues to stand as a leader in delivering 21st century technological programs, college scholarships, mentoring, support and services for youth and adult Information Technology professionals.

For more information on sponsorship options, contact Wayne Hicks, Director, BDPA Corporate Sales Department, corpsales@bdpa.org, (301) 584-3135 ext. 108.
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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, January 2014)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. The streak of five straight months of membership growth ended in December and a new streak began last month!  The total membership increased by 3% in the first month of the new year.  This reflects the new excitement and energy brought to membership recruitment and retention under the leadership of National BDPA president Dr. Craig Brown and National BDPA VP-Membership Management Adrienne Thomas.

We want to congratulate BDPA Chicago chapter for maintaining its dominance when it comes to membership size.  The chapter has been holding the #1 spot for over a decade ... although I understand that there are a few chapters making moves to challenge them in 2014. BDPA Chicago chapter president Reggie Rush will have to stay on his toes this year!

Reggie Rush
We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Reggie Rush
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Dalric Webb 
  6. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney (up 2 spots from last month)
  7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (down 1 spot)
  8. Dallas - president, Chad White(down 1 spot)
  9. New York - president, Tyronne McKinney
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?
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Sunday, January 26, 2014

This Week in BDPA (January 26 - February 1, 2014)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar:
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.
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Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, December 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. The streak of five straight months of membership growth ended in December.  The total membership totals only dropped by two people ... but, it means that we need to enter into the new calendar year with renewed emphasis on recruiting and retaining members!  National BDPA president Dr. Craig Brown nominated Adrienne Thomas (BDPA Baton Rouge) to serve as the incoming national VP-Membership Management.  The full board is scheduled to vote on her confirmation at the 1st quarter board of directors meeting on January 24-25 in Orlando FL.

We want to congratulate BDPA Chicago chapter for maintaining its dominance when it comes to membership size.  The chapter remained in the #1 spot throughout the two years of leadership under its president, Pamela Sexton.   The chapter earned national recognition with the presentation of the 2013 Chapter Membership Management Award announced during the national conference by BDPA founder Earl Pace!

Pam Sexton accepts award from Earl Pace
The 'secret sauce' for the success of BDPA Chicago chapter can be found in its consistent delivery of tangible programs and services.  The chapter delivers a powerful value-proposition for IT professionals, students and sponsors.  If other chapters want to ever leap-frog Chicago into that top spot ... they will need to come up with consistently powerful programs and services in 2014.

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson 
  7. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart 
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.

What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?
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Sunday, December 15, 2013

This Week in BDPA (December 15-21, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Monday, December 2, 2013

This Week in BDPA (December 1-7, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, November 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 5th straight month under the leadership of National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown over 43% from this same time last year! In fact, BDPA membership in November 2013 is higher than any month since February 2010!

We also want to congratulate the BDPA St. Louis chapter for advancing four places to become the 11th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Dwana Franklin-Davis and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 14% in the month of November.  Much of this increase was due to corporate memberships purchased by Monsanto.

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter 
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (up 1 spot)
  7. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart (down 1 spot)
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore


We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Election Results: BDPA Chicago Chapter (2014-2015)

BDPA Chicago chapter has a powerful legacy that has grown since its founding in March 1986. The chapter recently concluded elections that put in place those brothers and sisters who will take BDPA Chicago chapter to the next level in 2014-2015. The following officers were elected in accordance with chapter bylaws:

President - Reggie Rush (Geneca)
 

Executive Vice President - Nashunda Bolden (Computer Resource Solutions)
 

Administrative Vice President - Pamela Nortfleet (Chicago School of Professional Psychology)
 

Treasurer - Jesse Mathews III (McDonald's)
 

Recording Secretary - Henri'Etta Goodwin, (McDermott Will & Emery)
 

Please join all of BDPA in welcoming these new leaders as they strive to advance the careers of African Americans in the information technology industry from the classroom to the boardroom within the metro Chicago area. They have some large shoes to fill ... and BDPA Chicago is not only the largest chapter in the nation ... it is also the defending BDPA Chapter-of-the-Year!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

This Week in BDPA (November 10-16, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, October 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 4th straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown almost 35% from this same time last year!  In fact, BDPA membership in October 2013 is higher than any month since March 2010! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Detroit chapter for advancing five places to become the 10th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Beverly Moore and her leadership team managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 36% in the month of October.  It is great to see positive news coming out of Detroit!

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter (up 1 spot)
  3. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden (down 1 spots)
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte 
  6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
  7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  9. New York - president, Renetta English
  10. Detroit - president, Beverly Moore (up 5 spots)
We lost BDPA Middle Tennessee from the Top 10 for the first time in many moons.

We continue to have four chapters in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Monday, October 28, 2013

BDPA Chicago Chapter in Review (1993)

Hat tip to Milt Haynes and his new Blacks Gone Geek blog for sharing historical video entitled 1993 BDPA Chicago Chapter in Review Video. This video was a collaborative effort with BDPA leaders (Ollie Morgan, Sheila McCaskill, Mike Davis) and Chicago Access Cable (producer, Derek Grace). The video provides an up close and personal look at BDPA students, members and corporate sponsors.

I wonder where the 1993 BDPA Chicago Chapter HSCC Team is now? They are named in the middle of this video. Do any of you know where they are now?

Sunday, October 13, 2013

This Week in BDPA (October 13-19, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, September 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 3rd straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown almost 27% from this same time last year! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

Carl Hill
We also want to congratulate the BDPA Triangle chapter for advancing seven places to become the 14th largest chapter in the nation over the past month.  Chapter president Carl Hill and his leadership managed to increase membership in their chapter by over 68% in the month of September.  I wonder what is the 'secret sauce' in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina?

We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte (up 2 spots)
  6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
  7. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson (down 2 spots)
  8. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney (up 1 spot)
  9. New York - president, Renetta English (down 1 spot)
  10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris
These are the same ten chapters who led the nation the past three months in a row. BDPA Cincinnati (up 3 spots) made the largest move in the top ten ... the chapter gained 40% more members in the month of September and 70% increase in membership over the past 12 months. move towards the top.

There is a new chapter in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of having powerful leadership is obvious when we see that BDPA Atlanta chapter joined joined Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC as a fourth member of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Sunday, September 22, 2013

This Week in BDPA (September 22-28, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Top 10 BDPA Chapters (Membership, August 2013)

The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. As such it is good to note that BDPA membership has grown for the 2nd straight month. In fact, the total membership in BDPA has grown over 9% from this same time last year! Congratulations to National BDPA VP-Membership Management Curtis Jenkins for the work being done within his business area to move membership recruitment and retention in the right direction.

We also want to congratulate the BDPA Chicago chapter for winning the 'Chapter Membership Award' at the 35th annual BDPA Technology Conference last month in Washington DC. Chapter president Pamela Sexton accepts the 'Chapter Membership Award' from BDPA founder Earl Pace as shown in the photo to the right.

Pam Sexton & Earl Pace
We believe in the management maxim -- you get what you measure.  Let us assess the numbers in order to honor those local BDPA chapters who are demonstrating success in their efforts to recruit and retain members. Let's take a look at the ten largest chapters in BDPA-Nation:
  1. Chicago - president, Pamela Sexton
  2. Philadelphia - president, Eileen Gadsden
  3. Washington DC - president, Perry Carter
  4. Atlanta - president, Derrick Brown
  5. Los Angeles - president, John Malonson
  6. Dallas - president, Stacy Stewart
  7. Cincinnati - president, Clarence Larcarte
  8. New York - president, Renetta English
  9. New Jersey - president, Goldie Bonney
  10. Middle Nashville - president, Kendall Norris
These are the same ten chapters who led the nation the past two months in a row. BDPA New York (up 1 spot) made a move towards the top. BDPA New Jersey (down 1 spot) is the only chapter to lose traction in this month's membership ranking.

There is a new chapter in the 'BDPA Century Club'! The benefit of hosting an annual conference are obvious when we see that BDPA Washington DC chapter joined Chicago and Philadelphia as a third member of the 'BDPA Century Club', which means that they each have over 100 members. One of the common denominators for each of these chapters is that they place a high premium on the delivery of quality programs and services to their members. These chapters work hard to ensure that there is a strong return on the $100 investment that each member makes thru annual dues.


What are your thoughts about the value of BDPA membership? What can your local chapter do to improve the value-proposition for you on a personal or professional level?

Sunday, August 25, 2013

This Week in BDPA (August 25-31, 2013)

BDPA offers strong programs in 46 cities around the nation. Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar :
Please let us know of other BDPA events 
that we may have missed! 
You can always find BDPA programs, services or networking activity online at places such as:
BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry. Our hope is that you find reasons to provide tax-deductible support to our Causes, our HSCC Scholarship Funds or Your Causes! We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

BDPA Birthday Love for Ollie Morgan


Please join us in remembering Ollie Morgan on his natal day! Ollie served on the national BDPA board of directors for a number of years as BDPA Chicago chapter president, national president and immediate past president. At the time of his passing he was an author and photographer living out his dreams in New Mexico.


Ollie was a key player in the growth of corporate sponsorships. He created the concept known as 'Corporate Advisory Councils'. We now have active CACs in many of our larger and more successful chapters around the nation. Ollie was the first to understand the importance of developing a 'return on investment' value proposition. Ollie's vision turned into the record-setting corporate sales revenue coming into the BDPA Chicago and National BDPA treasury over the past decade.

Ollie was a prolific writer. His articles about BDPA regularly appeared in the National JOURNAL and the BDPA Chicago PROFESSIONAL newsletters.

I appreciate the powerful legacy of Ollie Morgan ... particularly in the 1993-1995 era. Ollie should be a member of the BDPA Hall of Fame. For now, we honor him here in cyberspace.

Please share your memories of Ollie and think a good thought of him on his date of birth!

Sunday, August 18, 2013

BDPA Member on the Move: Milt Haynes (Sears Holdings)

Milt Haynes
Milt Haynes is a former national BDPA president who graduated with President Barack Obama from Columbia University. Now he's a knowledge manager at Sears, and runs a global group for Blacks in technology. Haynes is a knowledge manager at Sears Holdings Corporation (Hoffman Estates, IL), where he ensures that IT knowledge, intellectual capital and experience are shared throughout the organization.
"My interest in computers started when I was a kid in Chicago, with Star Trek," he says. "Mr Spock always seemed to have a logical solution to any problem. That made me think that if I had a computer, I could do that too."
Read the rest of the Diversity/Careers magazine article.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Bemley Scholar Byron Wooden Seeks Computer Science Degree from University of Illinois

BDPA Chicago chapter has trained some excellent young men and women in its Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program over the years. None better than Byron Wooden. Byron earned a Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship as a result of the bronze-medal performance of his High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team trained by Chicago to compete at the 2010 National BDPA HSCC Championships. Byron informed us recently that he plans to use the Bemley Scholarship funding to study for a computer science degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Class of 2017).

During Byron's high school years he was part of the cross-country track team and earned a spot on the dean's list all four years. He also became active with the BDPA Chicago chapter as a high school student. His passion for problem solving through web development is what brought him to BDPA in the first place. His BDPA experiences inspired him on his current pursuit of higher education in a STEM-related curriculum.

We asked Byron to share his thoughts on the BDPA experience:



At the start of 8th grade, I had no programming experience. What I had instead was a desire to solve problems by building things. At that time, I wanted to be an inventor and entrepreneur. I would come up with ideas for products or services to create; everything from flying cars to a nanny service to help new moms. I envisioned myself building things for a living. My Dad took me to work one day and introduced me to HTML, CSS and JavaScript. He showed me how to build webpages ... and I loved it. I could build anything that I saw in my mind's eye; and I tore through those languages until eventually they weren't enough. Eventually I knew that I needed more. I joined BDPA in the 8th grade because I wanted to be better able to build web sites and solve the sort of problems that we all see everywhere.

I was discouraged when I first started with BDPA Chicago chapter. I assumed that I would be the most talented programmer in the class due to my prior experience with web development. The opposite was true. There were at least six seniors with years of experience and dozens of other students with more age and experience than me as well.

It wasn't likely that I would do well enough to make the national HSCC team from Chicago. However, I managed to stay interested in the program for two reasons. First, I didn't join BDPA to be the "best coder". I joined to become a "better coder" so my job was to polish my skill set and not to shine. The second reason I stayed was because the HSCC program wasn't a competition, or at least it didn't feel like one. The program felt like a class, the first one I had ever taken where everyone was engaged, helpful and where the environment was fine-tuned to produce advancement.
2010 BDPA Chicago HSCC Team in Philadelphia
Through focus and consistency, I managed to be part of the national team that year (2010); the only freshman on a team full of seniors. Our team went on to place third place in the national HSCC championships held in Philadelphia.

My sophomore year was a rebuilding one for the chapter's HSCC program. Most of the students from the prior year graduated. That year (2011), I became team captain and a large onus was placed on me to help the team be successful. This year, just like last, did not proceed the way that I expected. I assumed that my experience from the previous year meant that I had nothing left to learn from BDPA.

2012 BDPA Chicago Chapter SITES Students
The truth is that in all my years in BDPA, I've never stopped learning the same lesson that I'm learning today: how to be a leader. It is from these lessons that I learned to manage a team of peers, take responsibility and report back to coaches on the progress of the team, and also how to help instruct other students in the program.

Although the teams I was on never placed as high at the national HSCC championships as we did during my freshman year, I wouldn't trade the experiences that I've had with BDPA Chicago chapter for any other, because I know that these experiences have been invaluable in preparing me for a professional career in ways I never could have imagined when I joined BDPA.

During my first four years with BDPA, I've not only had the opportunity to improve my skills as a web developer, but I've also had the opportunity to find other dedicated coders to build websites with. It is working with my BDPA teammate that has meant the most to me. They challenged and pushed me as a web developer by sharing new techniques or challenging my programming logic and even by given me competition to try to outshine. I will leave for the University of Illinois in the fall. I'm sure there will be aspiring web developers there as well. I can't wait to find them and to begin to build web sites with them; a lesson well and gratefully learned at BDPA!

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation is very proud to have Byron as one of our Bemley Scholars! We look forward to following his college career and eventually his professional career. I sense that Byron may be back with BDPA one day as a chapter president or a regional vice president or perhaps as our national president! Share some love with Byron as a REPLY or COMMENT to his testimonial.

Finally, you can help us increase the number of college scholarships that we give out to the BDPA Chicago students with your secure online donation. Won't you support BDPA today?