Hotep! BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF) exists to provide financial support for BDPA. We share information about fundraising, funding sources and BDPA programs on this blog. The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent BDPA’s positions, strategies or opinions.
BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is proud to administer the Human Capital Logistics (HCL) Scholarship for BDPA Students. BDPA Greater Columbia student member Brandi Taylor won the scholarship and plans to use it to continue her studies at Claflin University. The HCL Scholarship recognizes outstanding BDPA Greater Columbia student members, with an interest in information technology, who make significant contributions to society. Applicants must excel academically, show exceptional leadership potential, and make an impact on their communities through service to others. Applicants must be financially current members of the BDPA Greater Columbia chapter.
HCL Scholar * Brandi Taylor
Brandi is a senior Biology major at Claflin University and will graduate with honors in May 2018. We asked her to share her thoughts on BDPA:
One of the most memorable moments while participating in BDPA was competing in the BDPA IT Showcase. The IT Showcase provided me with foundations for conducting research and communicating my findings with others. I utilized the skills that BDPA taught me to conduct and present research in the Scientific community. My goal is to attend Podiatry school to pursue a doctoral degree in podiatry. Within the next 20 years, I want to open my own franchise of clinics that assist in the expansion of podiatry health care to underprivileged families across the world. In addition, she wants to open free health clinics that promote healthy lifestyles for the African American community."
HCL is owned and operated by BDPA member Phyllis Coleman. Phyllis is a long-time supporter of BDPA ... including her service as past president of BDPA Greater Columbia chapter. It is wonderful to see BDPA entrepreneurs and small business owners reaching back to 'make a difference' with our young people.
We hope that other BDPA business owners will find a way to support our young people with either scholarships or sponsored memberships. Contact BETF executive director if you have questions or wish to discuss further.
BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is proud to administer the Human Capital Logistics (HCL) Scholarship for BDPA Students. BDPA Greater Columbia student member Briana Abraham won the scholarship and plans to use it to continue her studies at George Mason University. The HCL Scholarship recognizes outstanding BDPA Greater Columbia student members, with an interest in information technology, who make significant contributions to society. Applicants must excel academically, show exceptional leadership potential, and make an impact on their communities through service to others. Applicants must be financially current members of the BDPA Greater Columbia chapter.
Briana seeks a computer science degree with a focus on cybersecurity. Her career goal is to become a reverse engineer. She worked the past two summers as a research intern at the University of South Carolina.
We asked her to share thoughts on her experience with BDPA.
2014 HSCC Team (Greater Columbia)
"I joined BDPA during my junior year in high school, shortly after I became interested in Computer Science. BDPA gave me a space to hone my programming skills, while also allowing me to collaborate with peers who held similar interests, and who were passionate about software development. My time at BDPA has greatly increased my teamwork skills, presentation skills, networking skills, and of course my programming skills.
My most memorable moment in BDPA is during the 2014 National BDPA Technology Conference, when the awards were announced for the High School Computer Competition, and it was revealed that my team had placed second. That moment was filled with elation, joy and camaraderie. My teammates and I, were thrilled to see that the days spent together in preparation for the competition had paid off. We were shocked. The moment for me was particularly special, as prior to this venture, I had no experience with web development, and being able to contribute meaningfully to the team's success, was fulfilling."
HCL is owned and operated by BDPA member Phyllis Coleman. Phyllis is a long-time supporter of BDPA ... including her service as president of BDPA Greater Columbia chapter. It is wonderful to see BDPA entrepreneurs and small business owners reaching back to 'make a difference' with our young people.
We hope that other BDPA business owners will find a way to support our young people with either scholarships or sponsored memberships. Contact BETF executive director if you have questions or wish to discuss further.
Anthony Coleman capped off his BDPA experience in high school by winning two scholarships -- Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship and the Human Capital Logistics Scholarship. He will use the scholarships to help fund his Computer Technology degree at Midlands Technical College and Winthrop University. Anthony grew up in a military family. Both his father and grandfather served in the Armed Forces for over 20 years. Anthony was born in Richmond, Virginia, however he has lived in five different states, including Alaska. The constant movement that comes with being a 'military brat' was stressful at times, however, it allowed Anthony to become an adaptive and resilient person.
Anthony graduated from Dutch Fork High School where he was actively involved in numerous extracurricular activities, such as the Beta Club, Future Business Leaders of America, and Distributive Education Clubs of America. He also graduated from the Youth Corps leadership program, and was the team captain of the BDPA Greater Columbia High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team from 2012-2014. He capped his BDPA experience on the HSCC team by taking home the silver medal at the 2014 National HSCC Championship held in Indianapolis, IN.
He spent his first year of college studying Computer Information Systems at Winthrop University. He is currently attending Midlands Technical College this fall to continue to work towards his career aspiration of becoming employed as a Computer Programmer. He plans to return to Winthrop complete his college education.
Anthony shared his testimonial on being part of the BDPA Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program:
After being a part of BDPA for 5 years, I can definitely say that BDPA has helped steer me in the direction of studying Computer Science in college. Before joining BDPA, I had already developed an interest in working with computers. However, I did not have an outlet to further explore my interest and develop skills in the field. When my mom first introduced me to BDPA, I was intrigued because I would be able to do something that I enjoyed while being with my friends from school. As time passed, my friends lost interest in the program due to the early meeting times on weekends. Nevertheless, I stayed with it as my passion for Computer Science and Web Design grew.
By the end of the year, I was a part of the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team. After my first competition, my team finished in the lower half of the standings. I was not discouraged after this result; it only proved that we had room to improve.
At the start of my second year in BDPA, there was a new focus within the chapter. There were new students and instructors, but there was clearly a different mindset. Everyone felt like we could really compete with the top teams. We took this new attitude straight to the HSCC competition in Baltimore. We finished the competition 7th overall. Although this finish might not seem that meaningful, it was huge step up from how we had performed in previous years. We believed that with a few tweaks to our formula we could easily make it into the top five. With this in mind, we trained harder than ever for the next competition in Washington, DC. I was even named captain of the team before heading to DC. On the night of the Gala, we all expected to finish in the top five. Unfortunately, we ended up finishing in the exact same spot as last year. I felt discouraged after such a disappointing result.
2014 BDPA Greater Columbia HSCC Team
Heading into my final year being a part of the HSCC team, I was determined to have my best performance ever. I was not aiming to merely finish in the top five; my goal was to win the competition. We showed up to the competition more focused than ever. Each day of competition our team was like a well-oiled machine. After the last day of competition, I had no doubt that we would have a great finish. At the gala, my teammates were nervous about the results, but I was calm. When we found out that we had finished second, I was elated. All the hard work and training I had endured had finally paid off. It didn’t even bother me that we missed winning by only a couple points. I was content with our success.
Being a part of BDPA helped me in so many ways. I have greatly helped my public speaking skills and taught me how to lead a group of people to common goal. This was a bonus to all the knowledge I would receive in Computer Science that would aid me during my first year of college. I am eternally grateful to my BDPA teachers, teammates, and chapter leaders.
We are very proud of the work that Anthony has put in over the years and we're glad that these college scholarships will help him further his education. Our hope is that those of you reading this message will support the young people being trained in BDPA Greater Columbia.
