Penn State News, 8/21/17 (Zion Emmanuel)

Making a Difference: Dean's Fund Helps Student Maximize His Success. At the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), innovation and engaged scholarship are two pillars that drive the college’s growth. Two crucial elements that support these ideals are the Dean’s Excellence Fund and the College of IST Future Fund, which offer unrestricted financial resources to address IST’s most pressing needs and create opportunities for students.

Zion Emanuel discusses a research project

In the case of Zion Emanuel, an undergraduate student majoring in IST with an emphasis on design and development, these funds are providing the assistance he needs to reach his full potential.

As an accomplished high school graduate of the Academy of Health Sciences in Largo, Maryland, and a member of the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a group working to increase underrepresented groups in technology, Emanuel arrived at Penn State with a passion for technology and numerous college credits under his belt. With his outstanding academic achievements, he earned a place in the Millennium Scholars Program, a prestigious initiative to foster students to become leading researchers in STEM fields.

Read the rest of the Penn State News 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.

The Wildcat Roar, 9/23/15 (Jared Orange)

Jared Orange Competes in Code in D.C. Students came back to Westminster this year with many different, interesting stories. Summer seminars, Camp Westminster, and exciting vacations were only a few of the many tales told around the halls. Yet, one story has been mostly untold: a competition held in Washington D.C. for upcoming web designers (cough, hackers, cough cough). Jared Orange, senior, recently attended this prestigious competition with a group of other students in order to prove they have what it takes to be the coders of the future.

BDPA St. Louis HSCC Team

For those not familiar with this competition, the basic layout goes like this. Teams would have to design a webpage using different programs such as HTML (HyperText Markup Language), JavaScript, PHP, among others. The teams are selected by chapter. The chapter’s sponsor would monitor those who signed up and teach them different skills to use on the computer. At the end of the training period, those who were deemed good were selected to compete with the team.

The team came in sixth place overall, much to Orange’s irritation.

“We lost to teams smaller than us which was pretty bad,” he says. “There were a lot of technical difficulties. I don’t know why. You would kinda expect an IT-centered organization to be on top of their game but it was kinda disorganized.”

Despite the loss, Orange says he would participate in the competition again if given the chance.

“It was just fun,” according to Orange, “and I’m opening my mind to more programming. Now I know things like PHP and now I can do a lot of other cool stuff besides Java.”

Read the full Wildcat Roar article.

Tell Us USA, 8/22/2015 (Gen. Colin Powell)

Gen. Colin Powell

National IT Conference Draws General Colin L. Powell. The influence of BDPA was clearly evident with the appearance of four-star General Colin L. Powell as the Town Hall speaker for the 2015 Annual Technology Conference and Career Fair. The connection between IT and a former Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. Secretary of State, was a revelation to the capacity audience and one General Powell joked would surprise most people. “I am perhaps the only person in this room who can program in both Fortran and Cobol.”

Bringing his remarks back home, Powell said “All you young people here have to fully understand is, you are being given opportunity though the programs offered by this great organization, to learn a skill…you do your part to make sure nobody sees anything coming out of you except performance.”

The BDPA programs Powell was talking about include the annual High School Computer Competition [HSCC] and the Youth Technology Camp. The large contingent of young people at the conference also showcase their knowledge of IT with poster board displays, in keeping with the conference theme of “Evolution of IT: Embracing the Digital Future”.

Read the full Tell Us USA article.

Business Wire - 8/10/2015 (2015 National Technology Conference)

BDPA Names Top 2015 Honorary Chairs. Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) recently announced Marc Di Francisco, President of Premier Event Management; Terry Halvorsen, Principal Advisor to the Secretary of Defense for Information Management/ Information Technology and Information Assurance; Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, congressional representative of the District of Columbia; David L. Steward, President and Chief Executive Officer of World Wide Technology; Dr. E. Faye Williams, National President/CEO of the National Congress of Black Women; and Harry Wingo, President and Chief Executive Officer of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce as their top Honorary Chairs at this year’s 37th Annual National Technology Conference and Career Fair, "Evolution of IT--Embracing the Digital Future," August 18-22, 2015 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.

Read the rest of this Business Wire article.