Bloomington Pantagraph, 8/29/2016 (Joel Johnson, Sidhearth Panda, Suraj Sunkara, Jordan Stipp)

From left are BDPA-CIL president Marcus Barbee, BDPA member Theonnie Shields, BDPA-CIL HSCC coordinator Joel Johnson, Normal Community HS students Sidhearth Panda, Suraj Sunkara and Jordan Stipp. The three teens placed in 3rd place in the national HSCC in Atlanta, GA.

NCHS Students Score Third in National Computer Competition. Three Twin City high school students showcased their technology and communication skills at the recent national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) in Atlanta, Ga., netting third place. Joel Johnson is the coordinator and instructor for the local HSCC club, hosted by Black Data Processing Associates Central Illinois Chapter, a non-profit organization.

“We recruit students from Bloomington-Normal high schools to learn at our training academy. The goal of the program is to encourage African Americans to get into IT (Information Technology), but we will educate any student that wants to learn,” said Johnson, who also works as a system analyst at State Farm.

The academy members meet three times a month, October through April. The students learn basic web page construction, java script and database creation for websites.

Read the full Bloomington Pantagraph article.

Forsyth County News, 8/28/2016 (Cameron Reaves)

Cameron Reaves

Scholastic Student Spotlight: Lambert Senior Class President Focused on Energy Crisis. Cameron Reaves is a senior at Lambert High School in the Atlanta area.

Cameron said, "I plan to study computer science and energy engineering, selecting a minor in Chinese. I plan to focus on solving issues in sustainability and energy, improving the efficiency of existing systems and developing cheaper alternatives to solve our impending energy crisis. Whether as an employee or an entrepreneur, I will make an impact on both how society consumes and produces energy."

Read the full Forsyth County News article here.

bdpatoday, 8/25/2016 (Mayesha Awal, Michael Brown, Kareem DaSilva, Justin Rice)

Developers, Mentors, Judges and Student Invitations now open for 2017’s AppDev Season.  National BDPA announces 2016 winners of its annual National Mobile Application Showcase competitions. Approved Mobile App Showcase projects submitted this year were assessed by a panel of industry judges and partners during BDPAConnect16. Monetary awards powered by State Farm Insurance were given to the top Android and iOS collegiate and high school developers.

Read the rest of the BDPAToday article.

News One: 8/9/2016 (Ogochukwu Eburuoh, Sharrarne Morton)

Black Data Processors Seek To Increase The Number Of African Americans In Tech. There’s a big push to get more African-Americans into the tech world and the culmination is happening this weekend.

The Black Data Processing Association will hold its annual Technology Conference and Job Fair August 10-13 in Atlanta, Georgia. The BDPA provides training for professionals and scholarships for students in an attempt to increase the African American presence in the field of technology.

According to The New York Times, African Americans only represent 7 percent of the tech workforce. The BDPA works with corporate sponsors to focus on recruitment, retention, community outreach, and supplier diversity.



Read the rest of the News One article.