Zack Garbow (Funeral Innovations) Wins 'Most Promising Technologist' Epsilon Award

Zack Garbow, co-founder of Funeral Innovations, was honored at the 2013 National BDPA Technology Conference with an individual Epsilon Award as 'Most Promising Technologist'.

Zack is one of the foremost innovators in the industry, bringing his extensive Silicon Valley experience into the death care industry by co-founding Funeral Innovations. Before starting Funeral Innovations, Zack was a software engineer within IBM Research, where he gained over 100 patents pending and earned the title of Master Inventor, becoming the youngest Master Inventor in the history of IBM. Prior, Zack studied Computer Science and Mathematics at the University of Minnesota.

Zack is actively involved in helping his community. He was the technical director for BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. He taught web technologies to high school students. Under his tutelage, the local chapter's students won their National BDPA High School Computer Competition championship a record five (5) straight years.   The number of students trained annually more than doubled during his tenure.

In 2005, Zack was accepted into Y-Combinator, where he would develop social media products in Silicon Valley, while networking with startup specialists, including the founders of Twitter, Gmail and Pinterest. Zack developed www.BDPAStudents.com at that time to assist in remote management of BDPA computer camp activity.

In 2011, Zack moved to Boulder, CO where he continued to manage development of www.BDPAStudents.com development while in Boulder.  The Rochester (MN) School District used this software platform to manage its web development classroom activities.

Thomas Moskalik, retired web development instructor for the school district said, “BDPAStudents.com surpasses anything commercially available. Instead of software that costs over six figures annually, www.BDPAStudents.com provides a flexible solution capable of supporting multiple chapters/entities, at virtually no cost. To say the least, I am impressed with the software and its creator.”

Soul clap to BDPA Southern Minnesota past president Nat Calvert for nominating Zack Garbow for this prestigious IT industry award!

Related articles

• Nominations Open for 2014 BDPA Individual Epsilon Awards

Wordless Wednesday: 2011 National BDPA High School Computer Competition Champions

Wordless Wednesday: National BDPA High School Computer Competition Champions (Southern Minnesota, 2011)

SOURCE: BDPA Foundation Photostream on Flickr

BDPA Southern Minnesota HSCC Team (2011)

These are the smiling faces of the 2011 National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Champions. The team hails from Rochester, MN. The gentleman in the middle is Zack Garbow. Zack has been training the BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter HSCC teams for the past decade or so. His teams have now won 6 out of 7 national HSCC championships ... and 5 in a row!  Zack shared his HSCC insights on the August 9th episode of the BDPA iRadio Show.

Please meet your 2011 National BDPA HSCC Champions (L-R): Hassan Hassan (Century HS), Daniel Sheppard (Minnesota Virtual Academy), Zack Garbow (coach), Sharon Singh, Adwait Walimbe (John Marshall HS) and Zakaria Ahmed (Mayo HS).

Each of these young people earned a Jesse Bemley Scholarship (partially funded by the Creating IT Futures Foundation).

BDPA iRadio Show - August 9, 2011

The BDPA iRadio Show creates a vibrant communications platform that speaks to all BDPA stakeholders. Here is the archived audio-clip of the show originally broadcast on August 9, 2011.

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Listen to internet radio with BDPA on Blog Talk Radio

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1. Milt Haynes, Chief Information Officer, National BDPA - Milt has been with BDPA for over 20 years. In the past, he was elected to leadership roles as BDPA Chicago Chapter President and National BDPA President. Milt currently serves as the CIO for National BDPA. As CIO, Milt is responsible for the technology infrastructure and for linking technology to internal strategy. Milt has received over 25 awards and honors at the local chapter and National level including the most prestigious National BDPA Outstanding Chapter President Award, Outstanding Contributor Award, Member of the Year Award, President’s Award, Service Award and the Spirit Award.
2. Deborah Chambers, Consultant, UBS - Deborah has over thirty years of experience as a human capital developer. She spent 23 years serving as a corporate trainer and team leader both internationally and domestically. For the last seven years she has been a successful business owner. Her goal is to help leaders improve their collaborative style when leading others in order to achieve the level of influential leadership that is so needed in today's challenging workplace. She is a published author with book called, Choose To Lead. She is a powerful advocate for the Executive Protégé Program within ITSMF / BDPA. She gave a workshop presentation last week at the 2011 National BDPA Technology Conference on topic of '21st Century Leadership Skills for Technologists.'
3. Zack Garbow, HSCC Instructor, BDPA Southern Minnesota - BDPA Southern Minnesota is the 5-time defending national HSCC champion. In fact, they have won the national HSCC championship in 6 of the past 7 years. One common denominator for those victories is HSCC instructor Zack Garbow. Zack is on a mission to take the lessons learned from his time with BDPA Southern Minnesota’s HSCC program and share them on a national basis. In fact, Zack would like to see the HSCC program evolve to the next level in 2012 and beyond.
4. Hayward West, Chapter President, BDPA Philadelphia - Hayward is completing 2nd year as BDPA Philadelphia chapter president. His chapter hosted the national conference in 2010. His chapter earned 'Chapter of the Year' honors from 2007-2010 ... reflecting sustained excellence in terms of community service, professional development, membership growth and financial management. He should have some outstanding ‘best practices’ to share from his local chapter. [YouTube]

Our host for this show is Franne McNeal. The technical advisor is John Malonson. The show is sponsored by the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation.

We invite you to listen to archive recording of our shows:

• June 14 - Julius Clark, Clifford Clarke, Wayne Hicks and John Malonson
• June 28 - Renetta English
• July 12 - Marybeth Gasman, Pablo More, Earl Pace and Wesley Williams
• July 26 - Monique Berry, Goldie Bonney, Michael Robinson and Cedric Sanders
  

Take Five: Zack Garbow (Southern Minnesota)

Most of the people that we know are able to 'talk the talk'. Only a handful of folks are able to 'walk the walk'. Zack Garbow is a young man who has walked the walk for many years as the technical coordinator and HSCC instructor with BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter.

The students that he trained have won the national High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championship in five of the past six years ... and they won the silver medal in that other year! His students have matriculated with over $50,000 in Jesse Bemley Scholarships to educational institutions like Howard University, Johns Hopkins University, Marist College, Rice University, University of Minnesota and Washington University in St. Louis. Zack is truly a remarkable BDPA volunteer who has made a difference in the lives of dozens of our student members.


We asked Zack to share some of his thoughts on BDPA in our Take Five interview series.

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1. How did you get involved with BDPA? - When I graduated college and started working at IBM, I wanted to get involved in the community and give back. One of my IBM mentors, Voke Sanomi Fleming, was involved in BDPA and invited me to observe a class. I was hooked. I began by helping support the classroom learning and eventually took over as technical coordinator for our chapter.
2. What is the most rewarding aspect of working with BDPA? - Seeing the students succeed is the most rewarding aspect, without a doubt. And by "succeed", I mean different things for different students. For some students, succeeding has meant getting full ride scholarships into prestigious colleges. For other students, succeeding has been gaining self esteem and discovering a passion in technology. The great thing about BDPA is it's an equal opportunity environment - students participate in the class regardless of race, experience, or GPA.
3. Do you have a favorite student that you've worked with in BDPA? - Why?  No - it's like asking a parent if they have a favorite child! I enjoy teaching the basics of HTML to a student who has never programmed before as much as I enjoy teaching advanced javascript to a member of our competition team.
   
   
   
   In fact, it may come as a surprise, but I prohibit discussion of the National Competition until our general training session is complete in the early summer. Until that time, the sole focus of our youth computer training program is to collectively teach the entire class - from the top student to the bottom. There are no favorites, and every student starts at 0 points, with an equal chance at earning their way onto our competition team.
4. What would future evolution or change would you like to see in BDPA's STEM-based training? - In my mind it needs to be much more collaborative. Today, each chapter operates on an island. Even though we are teaching the same techniques and technologies, every chapter develops their own curriculum, training material, assignments, etc. It's a colossal waste of time and resources! Instead of everyone re-inventing the wheel, we ought to be sharing best practices and best resources. If someone develops a killer HTML tutorial or an engaging PHP assignment, it ought to be available for other chapters to utilize.
   
   My goal is to create a universal repository of technology resources, shared among all BDPA chapters. That way every chapter can browse the materials and assignments by keyword or topic, and with a single click, pick and choose resources to add to their custom online curriculum. This will allow each chapter to focus more of their time and attention on helping students rather than re-developing material that already exists elsewhere (often in better form).
   
   The challenge is that many folks are reluctant to share their material, and that is understandable. However, I have 5 years of materials I've developed for our class that I will use to seed the repository and prove its value.
   
   I will be developing and releasing this online repository this summer, so I'd be happy to get feedback and ideas for the project from other chapters until then and during the National Conference.
5. Any advice for people considering a donation to BETF? - My advice is simple: if you want to see the impact the donation would make, simply observe a class session and speak to a few students. I have no doubt you will be hooked, just as I was and continue to be.

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Zack is a visionary. I hope that BDPA leaders around the country take heed of the thoughts that Zack shared with us above.

In the meantime, I hope that there is a chapter out there who will give BDPA Southern Minnesota a run for their money at the 2011 national HSCC championship to be held in Chicago later this year. BETF hopes that we can hand out more Bemley Scholarships this year ... you can help!

BDPA Los Angeles Member Reviews Online Tutorial for BDPA Students

Temitope Sonuyi is a member of our BDPA Los Angeles chapter. He joined BDPA because he saw it as an organization devoted to the service of educating young people. This fit with his personal desire to assist in the spread of knowledge to those who don't have the resources and opportunities and those that WANT to learn.

LA Chapter Computer Camp

Therefore, it is not a surprise that Temitope was interested in bringing 'best practices' from other BDPA chapters to support the efforts of training young people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) initiatives within BDPA Los Angeles chapter.

One of those 'best practices' is the online tutorials available through an application known as "BDPAStudents.com". This online application is available to any BDPA chapter engaged in the Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program.

We asked Temitope to share his review of BDPAStudents.com for our blog. Here is what he had to say:

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It's hard to figure out exactly where to begin in reviewing the BDPAStudents.com application. To begin it was created by Zachary Garbow, an instructor for the award winning Southern Minnesota team, and he released it to other chapters who were looking to find better ways to instruct their students.

BDPA So. Minnesota - 2010 Nat'l HSCC Champions

The application is great because it is a sort of self-contained site where students can do all the work and research that an instructor makes for them, without having to install software or keep files on their own. This makes it easier for students to get up and running on assignments. They simply login, read the instructors lesson plan and begin writing code in files that can be stored on a server. This allows students to continue work on assignments from anywhere as well. Furthermore it has a built in grading system that automatically ranks students and tracks scores for each assignment an instructor assigns.

Going from not using BDPAStudents.com last year, to using it as the main center for instruction has made a night and day difference in the ability for me to instruct and for students to learn.

There are future plans to further develop the application into a resource hub for all chapters. This application can potentially be a huge catalyst to deliver more instruction to more students since assignments can largely be self-contained and rely less on an instructor being present. If it becomes a resource hub it will greatly help out instructors as they will have a baseline of material to teach kids from, and can also contribute their changes or new assignments as well. You have to use it to believe it to truly grasp the power of it. Don't sleep on this one folks!

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BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very appreciative of Temitope for taking time to share his review of this collaborative software tool.   We hope that more chapters will take advantage of this opportunity to support the training of their students in the future.

BDPA Students: CSS 1, Learn the Basics (Zack Garbow)

Zack Sharing 411 about Computers!

We told you earlier about the success of Zack Garbow as the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) coordinator for BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter.  The HSCC students trained by Zack have won the national championship in 5 of the past 6 years.  Whatever Zack is doing in Rochester, Minnesota is working ... and perhaps it's time for the other 44 chapters to look to him for some 'best practice' advice.

Zack has begun to document the lessons that he provides to his BDPA students via YouTube.  Prior lessons were provided on the basics of HTML and  uploading files to CPanel.

Today, the lesson for BDPA Students focuses on the basics of cascading style sheets.





I'm curious to hear from BDPA students and volunteer instructors. Is it helpful to see these video clips from Zack here on this blog?

BDPA Students: Upload Files to CPanel (Zack Garbow)

Zack Sharing 411 about Computers!

We told you earlier about the success of Zack Garbow as the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) coordinator for BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. Students on his teams in the past few years have earned over $50,000 from the Jesse Bemley Scholarship Fund administered by the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF). Whatever Zack is doing in Rochester, Minnesota is working ... and perhaps it's time for the other 44 chapters to look to him for some 'best practice' advice.

Zack recently wrote a comment on this blog about his goal for the upcoming year:

"I love your concept of 'One BDPA'. This year I'm releasing our custom teaching software to any other chapters who are interested, hosted and supported free of charge. The idea is that we can then have a single resource library where all chapters can share assignments, teaching documents, and videos and really raise the level of resources collectively."

Zack has created two videos for HSCC students so far:

1. HTML 1: Learning the Basics
2. HTML 1: Upload Files to CPanel

Is any other chapter willing to get on board with this 'One BDPA' effort?

BDPA Students: HTML 1, Learn the Basics (Zack Garbow)

Zack Garbow would be in the BDPA Hall of Fame if we had such a thing. He is the long-time coordinator of the high school computer competition (HSCC) program hosted by our BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. BDPA Southern Minnesota has won more national HSCC championships than any other chapter in the nation.  BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter has won 5 of the past 6 national championships (2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)

Zack feels that building a strong HSCC program begins with the basics. Here is lesson that he uses to teach HTML basics to his students in Rochester, MN.







I look forward to seeing other HSCC tutorials being placed online! One BDPA!

BDPA Southern Minnesota Takes Youth Education to the Next Level

The Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program has been in place for over 20 years. One of the strongest elements of SITES is the High School Computer Competition (HSCC). In recent years, the most successful HSCC teams have been trained by BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter.

One reason for success in Rochester MN is the connection that the chapter has made with the local school district. All BDPA students participating in the SITES program in Rochester MN receive credits towards their high school graduation.

Zack Garbow is the SITES Technical Coordinator for BDPA Southern Minnesota chapter. He built an AGILE prototype earlier this year to assist in teaching Southern Minnesota students while he was out in California for 3 months. Zack assigned students their home work activities and graded students via the web site. The web site has a blog that allows students and teachers to interact online at anytime of the day or night.

This year Zack is updating www.bdpastudents.com so that parents and mentors may sign onto the web site and track a specific student's progress; down to lessons assigned, lessons turned in and their individual ranking in the class. The next logical step after this is to establish individual "blogs" for student, parent, mentor and teacher interaction.

63 students enrolled in the High School Computer Science Session hosted by BDPA Southern Minnesota this year. Five of those students took home the 2008 National HSCC championship. The chapter hopes to reach student enrollment of more than 80 students in 2008-2009 session.

The primary issue has been lack of laptop computers. However, the chapter president, Nat Calvert, indicates that this issue has been resolved.

The chapter requested wireless Internet access for their classroom sessions. Wireless Internet Access via classrooms allows them scale sessions to available classrooms and teachers. There is a huge opportunity for growth since classrooms are not in use on Saturdays. If they can scale up to four (4) classrooms near the computer lab ... they can teach over 150 students at a time. That means we can teach upward of 150 students by obtaining laptops.

I wonder which of the other 49 chapters will tap into this 'best practice' from our chapter in Rochester, MN to improve the quality and quantity of student success in their geographic area? Is your chapter using creative ideas such as these in your SITES training?

2007 National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) Rankings

The 2007 National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships were held in Washington DC. We had 21 teams competing in 2007 ... highest chapter participation since the 2004 competition.

The crowds gathered around these 21 teams to see if the team trained by BDPA Chicago could defend their 2006 title or whether the team trained by BDPA Southern Minnesota would resume their national dominance or if another chapter would upset them both.

As it turned out the power of the young men and women from Rochester, MN was too much ... BDPA Southern Minnesota earned 774 points to win the 2007 National HSCC championship ... their 3rd championship in the past 3 years. It was a remarkable effort by four truly remarkable young people (Yaa Kwansa, Ahmed Mahamad, Lauren Pemberton, Kunle Roberts and Adwait Walimbe), their coach (Zack Garbow) and chapter president (Francis Aning).

The host team from Washington DC set a chapter record in the national competition when they scored 754 points for the silver-medal. BDPA Chicago chapter scored 753 points to earn a bronze medal.

Here are the rankings for all 21 teams that competed in 2007 national HSCC championships with the scholarship winnings for each student in parenthesis:

1. Southern Minnesota ($3,000 Bemley Scholarship for each student)
2. Washington DC ($2,000 each)
3. Chicago ($1,500 each)
4. Detroit ($1,000 each)
5. Chattanooga ($500 each)
6. Charlotte
7. Dayton
8. New Jersey
9. Los Angeles
10. Twin Cities
11. Dallas
12. Richmond
13. Hartford
14. Cincinnati
15. Austin
16. St. Louis
17. Philadelphia
18. New York
19. Greater Tampa Bay
20. Cleveland
21. Columbus

Our foundation seeks to increase the number of students that receive Bemley Scholarships in 2009 and beyond. To do so, we need your help. Please consider making an online donation to help us interest young people in science and technology.

Were you at the 2007 National BDPA Technology Conference held in Washington DC? Do you remember the HSCC championships? Do you remember any of the workshops or speakers from that year's conference? Care to share your favorite memory of that conference with us?