VIDEO: 'Your Future in IT Starts Today'

There are upwards of 500 students engaged in BDPA computer camps around the nation on any given weekend. Here is a video that can be shared with each of those students and their parents during orientation. This video production is the creation of BDPA Twin Cities chapter leader Michael Wulf.



What did you think of Michael's video vignette?

Brotherly Love: Teaching Tech to High School Kids

Repost from CBS affiliate in Philadelphia!



By Ukee Washington

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – President Obama has been encouraging high school students to major in engineering, science, or math. Now, a group of minority tech professionals has decided to take that one step further by giving weekend lessons to the next generation.

In a computer lab at DeVry University in Center City, students are practicing the finer points of computer coding.

Daneel Douglas, a senior at Philadelphia Electrical and Technology Charter High School, joked, “They say there are two different kinds of people in this world: those that know binary and those that don’t. And I can say I know binary!”

Every computer runs on zeros and ones, but someone has to tell it what to do. That’s what these students are learning at this free programming class held every Saturday morning by tech professional organization BDPA, which stands for Black Data Processing Associates.

Eileen Gadsden

“We don’t think they’re going to be programmers over the 44-week course,” said Eileen Gadsden, president of BDPA Philadelphia. “What we want them to do is like it enough that they choose it in college, and then make it a profession.”

BDPA Philadelphia encourages STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math.

Phillip Easton, a senior at Central High School, said, “I want to either be an accountant or go into computer science.”

“I wasn’t really into computers at first, but then I noticed it can get me a lot of opportunities,” said Jasmine Beard, a junior at Central High School.

Jerry Wargo, the campus president of DeVry University Philadelphia, said, “It’s just a perfect fit for them to come in on Saturday morning, when most kids are sleeping, and practice and learn.”

Tech professionals volunteer to teach the students, who help each other, too.

Norman Morrison, a senior at Philadelphia Military Academy, said, “If you need help coding something, you just ask your neighbor.”

James Gadsden went through the program in high school. “It’s kind of, in a way, like school. You have to make sure you keep up with your assignments,” he said.

Now, James uses those skills at the Community College of Philadelphia, where he is studying mass media communications, thanks at least in part to those Saturday mornings in the lab.

The students will also compete at a national technology competition later this year.

So far, 100 percent of the students in the program have gone on to college.

To find out more about BDPA, visit: www.BDPAPhilly.org

BDPA Computer Camp: Los Angeles (2013)

BDPA Los Angeles chapter won the bronze medal at the national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship last year. They are not satisfied. They want to win the whole thing this year ... and they are beginning right away!

BDPA Computer Camp: Los Angeles (2013) from Wayne Hicks

BDPA Los Angeles chapter used this presentation package to recruit 7th thru 12th grade students for participation in their 2013 computer camp leading up to the selection of a team to participate in this year's national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship to be held later this year in Washington DC.

Contact BDPA Los Angeles chapter (hsccla@yahoo.com) if you have questions or wish to discuss further.

Best Practices for BDPA Computer Camps (Los Angeles)

BDPA chapters around the nation are ramping up their Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) programs for 2013. One component of the SITES program is a computer camp for high school students that takes place on Saturdays with volunteer instructors.

 One of the fastest-growing computer camps is hosted by BDPA Los Angeles chapter. BDPA Los Angeles chapter president John Malonson recently shared some of the 'best practices' used by his chapter:

John Malonson

1. Google Services - Use Google Docs Forms to create registration forms (the back-end spreadsheet can then be easily shared and viewed by whomever you'd like to have access). Believe me, it makes the registration process super easy and hassle free. The form can be used to track volunteers and trainers as well. Here's an example of our form from this year -- http://www.bdpa.org/members/group_content_view.asp?group=71844&id=173042
2. Radio advertisement when it's time to fill the pipeline - Our students that took us to the #3 spot last year are in or close to their last year of eligibility so it was time to glut the incoming pipeline. We advertised on a well-known African American LA radio station (KJLH 102.3) which led to 80% of our incoming class and indirectly served the benefit of advertising our organization. Here's our Radio script - https://docs.google.com/document/d/124r9ZWCm0ObwrUE7IIOObqINC8D7ni3MvE9xCMLMJvg/edit
3. Personal Contact - I personally fielded over a hundred calls of people interested in the program even though the registration fee is $125 for our program. To increase membership, my vision was to basically make the program free for parents and students that are members of BDPA (i.e $100 for adult membership, $25 for student membership). If you don't have one already, you should consider signing up for a Google Voice account since it transcribes voice-mails for you and sends them to your inbox.
4. Class Schedule - This year we divided the program into 2 tracks (Beginner 12-2pm and Advanced 10-12pm). Our advanced track is primarily for returners so they don't get bored going over stuff they already know. Our program runs from Feb 2nd thru May 11th. Then we'll select our team and will work with them up until the conference.
5. Finding Trainers / Volunteers - This is the most difficult part. General administrative trainers can be pulled from the parent population if need be. For technical trainers, you basically need to be finding and recruiting them 24/7/365. We found a few by joining Meetup.com groups that catered to our technology platform (HTML , CSS, PHP, etc). First you get friendly with these groups, THEN you start asking for volunteers to help out with "a wonderful program that will suit their talents and develop their leadership abilities".
6. Topics to be taught this year: - Mobile Development (Android); HTML / CSS; PHP / MySQL; JQuery

Hope that helps!
John Malonson, president
BDPA Los Angeles Chapter

BDPA Computer Camp (Washington DC)

We are recruiting high school students for meaningful STEM experiences in the greater Washington DC area. See the following flyer for details ... and please share with any of your DC-based associates.

BDPA Computer Camp: Washington DC (2013) from Wayne Hicks