BDPA Banquet Honors Cincinnati Youth

BDPA Cincinnati Chapter is pleased to announce that Brett Bonner, Director of Research and Development for The Kroger Co., will be the keynote speaker for its 13th Annual Education and Scholarship Banquet. Mr. Bonner will address the theme "Global Strategy for the IT Professional". The event will take place at the Marriott Kingsgate Conference Center, 151 Goodman Drive by the University of Cincinnati campus, Saturday, September 15, 2007 from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

Current statistics show students of African descent lag behind in the information technology arena. In an attempt to address this issue, and give our youth a competitive edge, local chapters participate in the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarships (SITES) Program. BDPA uses SITES to provide a foundation that K-12 grade students can use to explore their talents and promote interest in the Information Technology field.

Anyhow, this Cincinnati area event is an annual fundraiser that not only showcases BDPA students who participate in the High School Computer Club, High School Computer Competition Team and IT Showcase. This event will also help fund our student scholarship program and other student initiatives.

I think it is fair to say that everyone in and out of the Cincinnati chapter is proud of our students. It is hard to get a group of teenagers out of their bed every Saturday during the summer to learn how to write computer programs. Yet, the students in Cincinnati did just that. They demonstrated a level of dedication that is worthy of praise. The national team finished 18 out of 48 chapters around the nation. Jahmal Chase, a sophomore at Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts and Amber Gosby a sophomore at Mt. Healthy High School placed first and second place respectively in the high school portion of the 2007 BDPA IT Showcase held during the organization’s national conference in Washington DC. Hopefully, their experiences with BDPA will help them get ahead further in life.

Please reach out to the BDPA Cincinnati chapter if you are in a position to support them. Tickets for the luncheon are $30. For more information, call (513) 956-0636 or email banquet@bdpa-cincy.org for more information.

At a minimum ... please consider writing a comment right here ... right now ... to the Cincinnati students. We will print your comments and share them with the chapter for distribution at the luncheon on the 15th. What say u? Are you as proud of these young people as we are? If so, it is time for you to use the POST COMMENT option below!