Bemley Scholar Daniel Rothchild Heads to Ivory Towers of Harvard University

Daniel Rothchild

BDPA Detroit chapter has a proud legacy of building leaders and outstanding information technology talent through its annual participation in the National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships.

One of the very special young people who went through the BDPA Detroit chapter Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program for three years is Daniel Rothchild. Daniel earned Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship funding of $4,000 for his high-performance in the HSCC championships during 2009, 2010 and 2011. He plans to use that funding to help defray the costs of attending Harvard University!

Daniel has lived for most of his life in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He trained with BDPA Detroit chapter for three years and was a key member of HSCC teams that placed in 2nd place (2009, 2011) and 4th place (2010) on a national level. He graduated from high school in 2013 and is considering a degree in a computer-related field when he attends Harvard University.

Daniel was a guest on the BDPA iRadio Show in the past.  We asked Daniel to once again share his thoughts about BDPA. Here is what he had to say:

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"I participated in the HSCC program for three years, and my experience preparing for and competing at the national competition has had a tremendous impact on me. First and foremost, I learned the programming language Java intimately through my years of practical, hands-on experience. Though reading books on programming and taking computer science classes are helpful, nothing has prepared me better for programming in Java than the experiences I gained through BDPA.

I also learned to work as part of a team. Every member has his or her strengths, and I learned how to participate effectively as a member of a team by taking into account the strengths of other team members ... and dividing the work accordingly. I am sure this skill will be invaluable for me when I enter the workforce.

The skills I learned through my participation in BDPA have already been incredibly useful for me. This summer, I am working at a company where I need to write programs in Java ... which is the language that BDPA taught me during the HSCC training process. I am sure these skills will continue to be invaluable to me as I progress through college and beyond.

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Daniel is the first BDPA student to use his Bemley Scholarship for attendance at Harvard University. I look forward to watching this young man as he progresses through his college and professional career. I hope that he is able to connect with our BDPA Boston chapter over the next four years that he is in Massachusetts!