Bemley Scholar Malik Swanson Heads to Chicago State University for Computer Science Degree

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is providing a scholarship for Malik Swanson to complete his computer science degree at Chicago State University. Malik graduated high school from the Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center in Chicago. He is a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha, which is a community service organization. Also, he is employed as a webmaster by High Infidelity Media and as an IT support assistant on his college campus.

We asked Malik to share his thoughts about his BDPA experience. Here is what he had to say:

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My name is Malik Swanson and I am a member of the BDPA Chicago Chapter. I graduated in 2010 from Von Steuben Metropolitan Science Center. Currently, I am a student at Chicago State University, majoring in Computer Science. I originally attended Northern Michigan University, but transferred to CSU in the summer of 2012. Also, I am a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, which is a community service organization. In addition, I am employed as a Webmaster for High Infidelity Media and an IT Support Assistant at CSU.

My most memorable High School Computer Competition (HSCC) moment is when the BDPA Chicago HSCC team won third place at the 2010 National BDPA HSCC Championship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The BDPA Chicago HSCC team took eighth place in the previous year. I did not make that team. However, I made the team in 2010 as a high school senior. My teammates (Desmond Jones, Bernard Dickens, Ismail Zeyneli and Byron Wooden) and I went to the 2010 HSCC championship determined to win first place. Unfortunately, my team took third place.

I’m now in college and completing my undergraduate education is my primary goal and objective. I am always trying to find ways to network, and find the right mentors to assist me in my goals. I continue to connect with the right mentors and network with IT professionals as I pursue upon my undergraduate degree. This accomplishment will ensure that I can live a better life and have a bright future. I will be one step closer in reaching my ultimate professional goals as becoming a chief information officer of a fortune 500 company once I graduate from Chicago State University with a degree in computer science.

I am looking forward to the upcoming academic school year in college. I have a full load on my plate in life right now as I juggle a full time school work load and two part time jobs. However, I am blessed because I have the full support of family and they are always encouraging me to be successful. I realize that there are many college students today who are much less fortunate than me.

Upon graduation, I am looking forward to taking my developed skills in IT to a corporate environment. The reason why I want to work for a corporation is because this experience will develop more as a young IT professional and make me more marketable in the IT industry as I move forward. This is an exciting time in my life!

I want to thank the BETF for providing me with a college scholarship. Also, I want to thank BDPA for expanding my knowledge of information technology and exposing me to the many great and amazing people. Finally, I want to give special thanks to Gibran McDuffie, Pamela Norfleet, Bryan Moore, Eric Dortch, Yvette Graham and the other BDPA members and volunteers that helped to shape me into the young man that I am today.

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I look forward to following the college and professional career of this young squire over the coming years. Malik is the embodiment of the efforts of BDPA to advance the careers of African Americans in the IT industry 'from the classroom to the boardroom'. My hope is that BDPA can continue to create a pipeline of these young men and women so that our nation might 'win the future' in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. You can help. We want to give out larger scholarships next year ... can you help us do so?

This Week in BDPA (Oct 14-20)

BDPA offers strong programs in 45 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 :

• Oct 17: Philadelphia - Program Meeting, 'Annual Recruiters Roundtable'
  
• Oct 17: Detroit - Program Meeting, 'Technology in Healthcare'
  
• Oct 17: New Jersey - Webinar, 'Effective Use of Your iPad and iPhone for Business'
• Oct 18: Cincinnati - Program Meeting, 'Roadmap to Success: An Entrepreneur's Story'
• Oct 18: New York - Program Meeting, 'Every IT Professional is a Soldier in the War Against Cyber Threats'
• Oct 20: Orlando - Workshop, 'Big Data, Business Intelligence & Predictive Analysis'
• Oct 20: New York - Workshop, 'Cyber Security'
• Oct 20: National BDPA - Webinar, 'Career Triage: Managing Multiple Priorities'

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 Facebook Group
• BDPA Foundation Facebook Page
• BDPA LinkedIn Network Group.

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!

For Non-Profits Seeking Funding, Remember the Power of One

According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), over 1.5 million non-profits are registered in the U.S. While many of them receive assistance through corporate philanthropy and employee volunteer programs, in general all of them compete for a limited giving pool. So how can nonprofits stand out among all the noise, especially if you're a small, grassroots organization championing an under-served and mainly unnoticed population like foster children?

"One person, one volunteer, one company at a time," says Zaid Gayle, Executive Director of Peace4Kids (P4K), a South Los Angeles non-profit that provides programs and services for foster and at-risk youth from ages 5-18, and after they transition to adulthood until age 24. Because foster kids rarely have a permanent home or family, Peace4Kids is dedicated to empowering foster and at-risk youth by providing its own community as family. The P4K creed is that no matter where their foster kids are moved or what challenges are thrown their way, P4K wants them to feel that they will always have a family at P4K.

Read the rest of this Huffington Post article.

Year In Review: Monsanto and BDPA St. Louis (2012)

2012 was a remarkable year in the partnership with Monsanto and BDPA St. Louis chapter. A dedicated group of Monsanto volunteers made significant progress and recorded successes in many areas. BDPA St. Louis chapter took a moment to document the successes in this document.

Year In Review: Monsanto & BDPA (2012) from Wayne Hicks

Wordless Wednesday: BDPA Networking (Wayne Hicks, Pamela Sexton, John Harris)

SOURCE: Flickr

BDPA iRadio Show: October 9, 2012

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show.  Today is the 33rd episode of the our Internet Radio Show that began last summer. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. FREE download from the iTunes Store is also available for our listeners!

Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio

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The guests on the October 9th show:

Felicia Jones - Chapter President, BDPA Atlanta - Felicia is a manager for Macy’s Systems and Technology. More importantly (for our purposes), she is the dynamic president of BDPA Atlanta Chapter. Felicia has done some remarkable things in the first nine months of her presidential tenure. Her chapter's young people won the 2012 national BDPA High School Computer Competition championship earlier this year. More importantly, her chapter provides more professional development programs and webinars than any other chapter in the nation. BDPA Atlanta is making a strong push to become the next 'chapter of the year'. Felicia is in position to share her insights and 'best practice' tips with our listeners. Her twitter handle is @AtlantaBDPA

Deena Pierrot - Chief Executive Officer, Mosaic Blueprint - Deena is a longtime BDPA supporter. In fact, she is trying to establish a BDPA chapter in the untapped market of the northwest United States. She has been a BDPA conference presenter and is actively engaged in diversity recruitment efforts. Recently, Deena took steps to implement her dream with the creation of the iUrban Teen Summit (www.iurbantech.com). The iUrban Teen Tech Summit brings together under-served, underrepresented and unengaged teens in an all-day, technology-focused event held on various university campuses. The events are informational, engaging and most of all fun. We look forward to hearing his story on the BDPA iRadio Show. Her twitter handle is @MosaicBlueprint  

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We hope you enjoy the insights and commentary on the show from each of these guests. Please take a moment to post a comment to let us know that you care!

HSCC Testimonial: Nicholas Reid (New York, 2010)

There have been hundreds of High School Computer Competition (HSCC) teams over the last 25 years. One of my favorite teams competed in the 2010 national BDPA HSCC Championships held in Philadelphia was trained by BDPA New York chapter. They were a remarkable and diverse group of young men who competed well ... and who I think will set the world on fire as they move through college and careers. One of the young men on that team was Nicholas Reid. Nicholas shared his testimonial with us last month. Here is what he had to say:

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My Name Is Nicholas Reid, I am 18 years old and currently a sophomore at Baruch College. Currently my major is Computer Science with a Minor in physics, however I will be transferring next year due to Baruch not having a major in physics, and I am going to be an astrophysicist. Currently this is my 5th year as a member of BDPA New York chapter - 4 years as an HSCC student and this year I came back as a Technical Coordinator.

During my years as an HSCC student, my role was Lead Programmer. My teammates and I were trained in various programming languages such as: PHP, SQL, Java, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and the most important Soft Skills which took me awhile to develop. I competed in 3 BDPA HSCC competitions 2 regional and 1 national, placing 3rd and 6th at the regional competitions consecutively and 6th place at the national level.

By the time I reached my 3rd Year in HSCC our Coordinator Ms. Denise Hamilton recommended my teammates and I for an internship with our sponsor UBS. This past summer I just completed my 3rd consecutive internship there. At UBS I met our internship sponsor and one of my mentors now Mrs. Denise Hebner. During The 1st year of the internship, it was exciting but, intimidating at the same time. I was a 16 year old kid working my first job alongside college and graduate students, I was doing the same tasks as they were so naturally, I was a little scared, however, I successfully completed the internship and was offered to come back year after year.

This year, I took on the role as the Technical Coordinator for BDPA-NY HSCC team. Alongside Ms. Tish Edwards, I was assigned the task of training the current HSCC students in web application development for the 2012 National HSCC Competition. This gave me a new perspective of HSCC from the point of our HSCC coordinators Ms. Hamilton and Mr. Destine. As a student our task was to learn and do our best in competing, as a coordinator I had to create a syllabus that would fit everything they need to know for the competition in only 4 months, use different teaching techniques to get through to each student, worrying about how they were doing while being sequestered for 8hrs, and being a role model for them to truly understand the benefits from a student standpoint of being a part of BDPA. From learning how to teach to guiding them at this year’s conference it was truly a rewarding experience. This year I will be getting back into the competitive nature of things and competing in IT Showcase.

My future goals with BDPA are to compete in IT Showcase and continue giving back to the foundation. I want to pass on many of the memorable and grand learning experiences I have had and will have in BDPA to the students I have now and the students that will come, also it would be nice to see BDPA-NY win 1st place for chapter of the year, IT Showcase and HSCC a goal which will hopefully be realized for 2013.

Nicholas Reid
September 2012

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Do you begin to understand why BDPA members do what we do? I hope so ... more importantly I hope you will encourage Nicholas and others who seek to advance their careers in the IT industry from 'the classroom to the boardroom'. One way you can show your support is simple -- make a secure online donation to the BDPA New York HSCC Scholarship Fund!