Camp exposes urban youth to computers

This summer, for the first time in three years, the 100 Black Men of Western Pennsylvania partnered with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield to expose and assist 11 select students in a 10-week InfoLink 100 Summer Computer Camp at Carnegie Mellon University.
“I’m very encouraged for how young they are,” said instructor Ty Miller of American Urban Radio Network. “They are learning news, how it’s gathered and disseminated. Already we’re talking about extending them into the school year because of how well they are doing.”
The students celebrated completing the program Aug. 21, begining with a speech of recognition, followed by a demonstration of what they learned. Finally, all students received an award and diploma.
The program is designed to teach skills that they would need for the ever evolving landscape of the job market; which is becoming more and more predicated on skills in technology.
For example, they were taught how to use Microsoft Powerpoint for presentations, they made resumes, did interviews, and were taught business etiquette. Instructors talked to them about what type of people they wanted to hire and  how they wanted their employees to look as far as dress code. The students also took tours at CMU.
Donte Lewis, a former protégé of InfoLink 100, was honored when he received the call to be a teacher. “I was one of three teachers this year. In 2008 I was a student.
The following year they asked me to be a technical assistant. The following year after that, they asked me to actually teach the program. I was honored because the program itself is a really intense program. The stuff they learn especially about software is covered very fast because there is a lot of stuff to cover.”
Although the program is by all accounts rigorous, Lewis said teens who sign up for the program need not be intimidated. “We’re really patient, both teachers and students because we know that they have to learn all of these programs in eight weeks, Monday through Friday for 3 hours. As long as you are willing to learn, we will help you.”
Lewis said his InfoLink 100 training was essential to the work he did later in his life. “Everything I learned in the program I applied it to college when it came to different projects I had to do. I even used it in my internship as well.”
The last two weeks before graduation, the students had to put together a project using all of the information that they learned throughout the program. For the final project, they had to take an old made up company and rejuvenate it using the skills they learned. This involved making a website from scratch and creating a company logo and even designing their building using SketchUp—a 3D modeling software. They also had to do a financial portion where they had to predict future sales for the company using excel. Three groups presented individual projects along those lines.
Students like Janay Giles and Destiny Callwood said InfoLink 100 has already set them on a career path for the rest of their lives. “We did a lot of building, doing financial statements and forecasting. I found that to be the most helpful because I want to major in finance in college,” said Giles.
Callwood, who said she wants to start her own record label, said of the program “I learned how to prepare for the workforce. I got the opportunity to have this wonderful internship at AURN. (American Urban Radio Network) and now I know how to do more things like edit video, edit audio and pictures using adobe and html code.”
Both Giles and Callwood, at ages 15 and 16 respectively, are already receiving paid internships at AURN.
Anyone who would like their own kids involved in next year’s program can contact 100 Black Men of Western Pennsylvania Inc.
 
 
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