Dreams Keep Me Awake, 7/31/2013 (Khalia Braswell)

Khalia Braswell

White House Tech Inclusion Champion for Change. Watching this live broadcast was very inspiring! Fortunately, I was familiar with quite a few of the organizations on the panel including Black Girls Code, the National Center for Women In Technology (NCWIT) and Digital Undivided.

In 2008, I was a recipient of the Aspirations in Computing Award from the NCWIT. As a result of receiving this award and my involvement with the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) High School Computer Competition, (I was on the 2008 Charlotte team which placed 5th), I will be attending the BDPA Conference in two weeks in DC to sit on a panel for NCWIT!

Read the full Dreams Keep Me Awake blog post.

North Carolina State University, 1/22/2013 (Khalia Braswell)

Khalia Braswell (r)

Computer Science Future Students. "Field of Dreams", a popular movie in the late 1980’s, coined the phrase “If you build it, they will come,” meaning that people don’t realize they want or need something until it is right in front of them. Today’s most relevant way to build a field of dreams is to integrate technology into subject matter, which is just what NC State computer science students Khalia Braswell and KaMar Galloway have done. Their collaboration with Dr. Fay Cobb Payton on a critical healthcare outreach effort is changing mindsets, increasing communication and bringing people together to talk like never before.

Read the rest of this NC State University article.

NOTE: Khalia was a member of the 2007 BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team trained by BDPA Charlotte chapter.

Charlotte Observer, 4/9/2012 (Nicole Hoffler)

12 Area Students Win Achievement Awards. A dozen high school students from the Charlotte area have been named winners of Achievement Scholarship awards through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They are among about 800 national winners of the awards, given to top African American high school seniors. The awards total more than $2 million and are financed by grants from 29 corporate and professional organizations. This year’s Achievement Scholarship winners from the area include:

Cabarrus County: Nicole Hoffler, Cox Mill High (plans to study information technology).

[NOTE: Nicole is a 4-time member of the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team trained by BDPA Charlotte chapter]

Read the rest of the Charlotte Observer article.

Creating IT Futures Blog, 2/24/2012 (Julius Clark)

In IT Security, Clark Found His Stage.  Of all the new directors on the board of the Creating IT Futures Foundation, Julius Clark certainly has the most broadly defined IT career. 

And, to think, it started almost by accident.  Clark grew up in Boston’s Roxbury Madison Park neighborhood. During his high school’s junior year, a teacher casually invited him to sign up for the computer-programming course he was teaching. Julius went along. “I was intrigued.”

Turns out, programming was a fun challenge Clark had never encountered.

“There was this whole different level of thinking. You set your variables, and you didn’t have to play with the numbers anymore. We learned BASIC, Turbo Pascal, but he’d let us take breaks to play games on the computers. One of the most complex programs we had to write was to simulate the Space Shuttle launch sequence.”

Read the rest of the Creating IT Futures blog post.

Creating IT Futures Blog, 9/27/2011 (Khalia Braswell, Stephanie Brown, Julius Clark, David Gottlieb, Reginald Jamerson, Dennis Rankin)

Julius Clark

It's Time to Show IT Off. The thing is, if material success is important to a person, then a kid could do a lot worse than to follow a career in information technology (IT). For example, it was recently reported that mobile app developers are pulling in six figures — whether they had a college degree or not.

Six figures for someone in their 20s! Hey, that seems like rap star status to me.

Julius Clark thinks so, too. Clark is the president of the Charlotte (N.C.) Chapter of the Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), a professional technology organization formed in 1975. I was introduced to Julius over the summer when Creating IT Futures Foundation partnered with BDPA's own foundation to award $10,000 in scholarships.

Read the full Creating IT Futures Blog post.

BlackVoices, 4/21/2011 (Julius Clark)

Computer Camp Participants Trained by BDPA Charlotte

BDPA Delivers K-12 STEM Education. The BDPA is the premier organization for African Americans working in the Information Technology field. The BDPA advances careers from the classroom to the boardroom.

See the full BlackVoices post here.

Consortium for Enterprise Solution Management, 2/7/2011 (Lonnie Emard, Wayne Hicks, Jerron Jamerson)

Congratulations to Jerron Jamerson, the winner of the first annual BDPA IT-oLogy scholarship!  Jamerson was selected based on the quality of his application, essay and letters of recommendation.  In his essay, Jerron wrote, “Continuous advances in computer science have helped to make business processes more efficient and technology more cost effective for consumers, while computer applications become more and more user-friendly.”  Jamerson is a senior at Phillip O’Berry Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina and plans to study Computer Science at either North Carolina A&T or South Carolina State University.

Read the rest of the article here.

TechAlliant, 1/26/2011 (John Hoffler)

John Hoffler

2011 BDPA Charlotte High School Computer Competition Academy. This academy is designed to introduce Middle School and High School Students to Information Technology and its various uses. Students will have the opportunity to participate in 4-hour training sessions each Saturday from February 12th to May to learn in-depth topics such as Web Development, Application Development, Database Design, and Database Development.

Read the full TechAlliant blog post.

SlideShare, 4/1/2010 (BDPA Charlotte)

How To Create a Business Plan. BDPA Charlotte chapter partnered with SCORE to provide this workshop for current and future entrepreneurs.

How to Create a Business Plan by SCORE

View more presentations from BDPA Charlotte - Information Technology Thought Leaders.

PR.com, 3/4/2010 (BDPA Charlotte)

Recruiting Roundtable Event - Joint Professional Organizations Participation. Thursday, March 11, 2010 from 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM: The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Charlotte Alumni will join in with the National Black MBA - Charlotte, Urban League Young Professionals, Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA), National Association of Black Accountants, National Association of African Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR), will have a dynamic panel of distinguished professionals from the Carolinas Market.

Read the full PR.com release here.

PR.com, 2/5/2010 (BDPA Charlotte)

Haiti Relief Networking with a Purpose Happy Hour Event. Professional Organizations Unite Together for a Cause. Come network and socialize with Charlotte area professional organizations on behalf of Haiti. 100% of the proceeds donated will go to American Red Cross Haiti Relief efforts. Your $5+ suggested donation/cover charge will also include a raffle ticket for great prizes. Award winning 1/2 price martini specials. Participating Professional Organizations include: NSBE, BDPA, ULYP, NBMBAA, NAAAHR, NABA, COMTO, and 100 Black Men of America.

Read the full press release here.

Slideshare, 1/21/2010 (John Hoffler)

Running a Small IT Consulting Firm. BDPA Charlotte chapter hosted January 2010 program meeting on the topic, "Running a Small IT Consulting Firm". The speaker was John Hoffler. This is the .ppt presentation that Mr. Hoffler used for his presentation.

Running a Small IT Consulting Firm

View more presentations from Wayne Hicks.

iContact Community, 11/20/2009 (Markus Beamer, Julius Clark)

BDPA Charlotte Chapter Election Results. I am happy to announce that Markus Beamer, current VP of Strategy & Planning, was elected as the 2010-2011 President-Elect for BDPA Charlotte. Markus has been a dedicated member of the BDPA Charlotte family, most notably as trainer for the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) program. Markus has demonstrated a strong passion of educating the next generation of students and walks the talk of our creed; "Advancing Careers From the Classroom to the Boardroom". Markus is a rising leader in the IT industry who also has a tremendous passion for developing online video/strategy games in his spare time. Markus is a very talented individual and will serve the Charlotte community well.

Read the rest of the iContact Community announcement here.

SlideShare, 10/2/2009 (Julius Clark)

BDPA Charlotte Information Technology Thought Leaders 2010 Membership Drive. This slideshare presentation was given at the October 2009 program meeting hosted by BDPA Charlotte chapter. The presenter was incoming chapter president Julius Clark.

BDPA Charlotte Information Technology Thought Leaders 2010 Membership Drive

View more presentations from BDPA Charlotte - Information Technology Thought Leaders.

MOBeamer, 8/31/2009 (BDPA Charlotte)

My High School Programmers. On August 7th, 2009, 3 freshman and 2 sophomore students from Charlotte, NC faced a field of programmers. They made up the youngest team of African American students that competed in this years Annual BDPA High School Computer Competition. Regardless of age they had intentions of winning and they represented Charlotte very well, placing in the top 10 teams nationwide...

Read the rest of the blog post here.

AAUW of North Carolina, 8/9/2008 (BDPA Charlotte)

What is the state STEM project? Local AAUW Branches, High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem and the Girl Scouts – Tarheel Triad Council, Inc., have created a partnership to pilot “IT TECHS.” The purpose of the project is to encourage high school girls to not only become aware of careers in Information Technology (IT), but to do directed “hands on” skill building activities. The project will be open to girls who reside in the Piedmont-Triad area. The sessions will be from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon for 8 weeks (on alternate Saturdays beginning in October 2008). Advanced classes will be available for those who qualify, culminating in competition in May 2009. Sessions will be directed by the BDPA Charlotte which is composed of IT managers, executives, consultants, web developers, and programmers.

Read the full media story here.

SlideShare, 7/26/2008 (John Hoffler)

BDPA-AAUW IT Techs: Partnerships in Education. This presentation was made by BDPA Charlotte member John Hoffler on in July 2008.

BDPA Charlotte: Education Partnerships

View more presentations from Wayne Hicks.

Charlotte Business Journal, 10/23/2000 (First Union)

Investing in Computer Literacy. The pilot round of First Union Corp.'s eCommunitiesFirst initiative to raise computer and Internet literacy ended last week with 80% of the 550 people enrolled completing their classes ... In the pilot, that has meant the city of Charlotte, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, BDPA-Information Technology Thought Leaders, UJAMMA, and University Park Baptist Church. But she says that the response has already been so strong that First Union is considering additional partners in Charlotte.

Read the full Charlotte Business Journal article here.