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| 2017 BDPA Cincinnati HSCC Team |
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| Braxton Smith * Bemley Scholar |
"I have been with the BDPA for a total of two years and in that time-frame I have had the honor and privilege of doing things people dream about. I got to attend two national conferences as the lead front end coder for the High School Computer Competition team. Since the first day I entered the BDPA, I have been truly taken from the classroom to the boardroom. Better than that, I found a second family at BDPA Triangle Chapter, one where the bonds between us members cannot be broken. My success that is to come is greatly due to this family I share here and I will not hesitate to come back and assist the Triangle Chapter with HSCC teaching or just for motivation. Additionally, I look forward to possibly partake in the college BDPA IT Showcase and BDPA Mobile Application Showcase competitions. In conclusion, BDPA is an organization, group, and a family that I would recommend to any hungry, curious mind that searches for ways to truly disrupt the system."
2017 BDPA Triangle (Braxton is on the right)
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| Eleanor Wilson * Eli Lilly Scholar |
"I was first exposed to the technology industry from family members in the field. In high school, I started to take more computer classes and each time was always surprised by the lack of diversity. Entering Carnegie Mellon, I had expected to meet a broader range of people in my industry. Indeed, I ended up meeting a broader group, however I still found myself being the only Black woman in my graduating class for my major, Information Systems. After hearing about BDPA from a friend earlier this year, I was eager to join. Being exposed to an entire network of people in the technology industry that I share similar backgrounds with has been refreshing and inspiring. I hope to get more active with the BDPA in the future and continue to be an advocate for Black involvement in technology."
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| Tristan Trejo * Bemley Scholar |
The most memorable moment of BDPA, was when our team was named the National winner at the High School Computer Competition (BDPA Disrupt 2017) in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our team members were all first-time competitors, but we surprised ourselves and won! The competition was tough, and requirements for the competition were very challenging and complicated. All of the other teams were very good teams. Our team members looked at each other, paused, pondered, and simultaneously, put our heads together, and strived for the best.
We really astonished ourselves! BDPA has had a great impact on my life. I have learned many lessons over the course of 6 years as a member, and not just lessons on coding, but I have learned to be a leader, a good public speaker, and learned how to understand my peers better, and much more. I have been able to help promote this program to the community, and I’m proud of it. The amount of knowledge I have obtained through out my BDPA career is immense, and I am very grateful that I was part of such a giving organization. I am very thankful to the people who made this opportunity available.
2017 BDPA SMN HSCC Team (Tristan is 2nd-left)
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| Lyndon Bowen, Jr. * HSCC Alumni (2015-2017) |
BDPA is blessed to have such a young and talented student as a winner of the Bemley Scholarship. We look forward to supporting Lyndon's career as he seeks to advance in the technology industry!
BDPA Triangle HSCC Team (Lyndon, 2nd-Right) "I have been a member of BDPA Triangle chapter for three years. During the time that I have been part of the organization, I have had the amazing privilege of attending three national conferences. For the past three years, I have been the project manager and full stack coder of the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team. While I had the privilege of leading my team our ranking at the National BDPA Technology Conference increased from nearly last place to third place. I look forward with great anticipation to continuing to be a part of the BDPA, moving towards working with the college aspect of the Triangle Chapter as well as coaching and mentoring the next HSCC Triangle team. I am also greatly interested in competing in either the college mobile app competition or the college IT showcase. BDPA is an organization that I would recommend wholeheartedly to any young mind to set them on a journey from the classroom to the boardroom and to show them how to truly disrupt."
This Scholarship means a lot to me and my family. It is a very helpful income that will allow me to reach my educational goal. I am originally from Senegal, a country in West Africa, and was naturalized US citizen on December 16, 2016. I am a full time student, full time worker, with a family of seven. This situation is one more motivation to keep going to school and succeed. I am 48 years old, already made sacrifices to be at school, and the only goal in my life right now is to earn degrees. With 4 young kids going to school too and a baby, it is very challenging to keep a balanced budget between my kids’ education, and mine. Therefore, any help is welcome.
Oumar Ly * Johnson & Johnson Scholar
I am also a responsible student that chooses to return to school not by compliance, but by conviction that only education is the way to succeed and provide a better life for people that are willing to do it. Beside the academic gain, knowledge of things that surround us is very important. Technology is growing and developing fast, and technicians are needed to fill the gaps. I believe that the cybersecurity program offers the most complete experience a student needs and can get, in order to be ready for higher and international responsibilities, in the cyber security field. I hope to join our national Security Intelligence team one day, and have the opportunity to serve my country and my community. The hardest part is to be financially able to support the studies. That is why scholarship is very important to student, especially to those that are willing, ready and sure to reach the finish line.
At my work place, I am part of the safety committee team that help prevent accidents and injuries at work. We work to help workers to better understand the concept of safety, and to cultivate better behaviors that will allow them to work safely, and return to their family without any damage. Meanwhile, in my community, I am a member of the Senegalese Association of Cincinnati that help naturalized citizens from Africa generally, and Senegal mainly, to learn English, read it and write it, and be able to socialize and fill out legal paper work in their own. Generally, they end up being interested to register for college studies that we highly suggest and recommend.
At the beginning of the year 2016, Dr. Hazem Said, the Director of School of Information technology, suggested that I join BDPA Cincinnati in order to enrich, improve and accelerate my insertion into the professional IT community, but also to find help and support to pay my school tuition and fees. That was the best day of my life, and I made the best decision to join BDPA.
Oumar (2nd-left) with other JnJ Scholars
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| Jasmine Stone * Eli Lilly Scholar |
I joined BDPA in late 2016. Since then it has been a source of information and opportunities for me. Through BDPA I have gained opportunities for scholarships, conferences and showcases. I have shared these opportunities with others at my school and in my other organizations in order to widen the community that BDPA can benefit.
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| Braxton Robinson * Bemley Scholar |
"Throughout middle school and high school, I have participated in the BDPA Greater Columbia as a student and also as a part of the HSCC team. This program has helped me strengthen my coding skills and soft skills such as communication, problem solving, adaptability, and conflict resolution. During my time being a part of the high school computer competition team, we have earned 2nd and 3rd place in the national competition.
My most memorable moment is earning 2nd place in the competition, the feeling of hard work being turned into results gave me a sense of accomplishment. I apply this moment to my daily life as I will begin college this fall, and I know that if I work hard there is no limit to what I can accomplish in the future. HSCC has had such a positive impact on my life, I begin every day with the goal of working hard and I know that everything else will fall in line, it has taught me so many important lessons that have prepared me for the many challenges that I have faced in life.
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| Sean Grant * Monsanto Scholar (2017) |
"BDPA is an organization with a strong and effective mission statement that I can relate to. Striving to encourage and support minority students at all levels to develop an interest in technology is a mission that I would hope to take part in as I begin my career as a soon-to-be college graduate. As a high school student, my interest in computer science and technology grew slowly. However, I was never undeniably sure that technology was what I wanted to focus my attention and energy on. Due to these slight doubts, I was apprehensive about pursuing an engineering degree once I entered college. However, after learning about the BDPA organization, along with other nationally recognized STEM organizations, I decided to commit to the pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and from my first day in class my interest in engineering and technology skyrocketed. This is the primary way in which BDPA has positively impacted me."
"Being able to see the positive impact that BDPA had on other college students around the country gave me the extra motivation to continue my pursuit of an engineering degree. My most memorable experience related to BDPA was at a tech event on campus where I was able to have a great conversation with a BDPA representative (who was also the speaker of the event). Hearing the encouraging words from the speaker was great, but what really impressed me was that after the event he took the time to talk to me about my interests in computer hardware engineering as well as his general interests in technology. This fairly simple, but impactful experience was very informative and helped me gain a stronger interest in the BDPA organization."
The lifeblood of any nonprofit association is its membership. We have a chapter who leads the nation in BDPA members.... BDPA Cincinnati. The chapter ... led by its president, Shawnda Peterson ... continues to amaze others by its consistent growth. The chapter recently hosted the 39th BDPA Technology Conference in downtown Cincinnati and it was a remarkable event and everyone appeared to have a great time!  |
| Judaea Lane |
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| Deja Lindsey * Eli Lilly Scholar |
"Being a member of Black Data Processing Associates has had a great impact on my personal and career development. From membership in the BDPA I was able to network and make connections with employees from Johnson and Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, and Eli Lilly and Company, all of which I have spent summers interning. Last year’s national conference in Atlanta actually showed me a new potential career path that I plan to pursue in my post-grad endeavors."
"This year’s national conference specifically has meant the most to me. Not only did I participate as a Youth Technology Camp workshop presenter, I also competed in the IT Showcase and won first place! While this conference was much busier for me than any of my past conferences, it challenged me in a variety of ways and helped me make many new professional connections. Being a member of BDPA has exposed me to more Black IT professionals, empowering me to continue my path into the information technology career field. My most memorable moment in BDPA is winning the IT Showcase because I worked very hard throughout the school year and summer and it was very rewarding to see my hard work pay off."
Deja Lindsey * IT Showcase Winner
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| Malcom Mathis (BDPA St. Louis Prez) |
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| Daniel Powell * JnJ Scholar |
"My most memorable moment with BDPA would have to be receiving the notice that I was selected to receive their Johnson & Johnson scholarship. It will definitely help my academic career and I am grateful I was able to be part of such an organization."
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| Ashley Shorter |
"I began my involvement with BDPA during my junior year of high school in the High School Computer Competition in the St. Louis Chapter. Since then, my personal network and knowledge of the IT industry has expanded immensely. What I learned during HSCC enabled me to get a job at my university as a Web Developer as well as a summer internship on the Web Optimization team. I continue my involvement with BDPA by competing in the Mobile Application Competition this year, and I will continue my participation with BDPA for many years to come."
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| Yaw Asante * BCBS Scholar (2015) |
"For me, BDPA provided real-world experience in what it meant to be an information technology professional. Saturdays spent at BDPA were like forays into the professional world, with experiences that far exceeded my expectations. I began with BDPA in the spring of 2014, hoping to expand my knowledge of the world of computing. I had already had some experience with computers simply from use. However, with BDPA, I have been able to expand my knowledge even further. I learned about not only technical aspects of working in IT, like programming languages and software design skills, but also the professional aspects of IT. Our adviser, Mr. Frank Hill, would often take time out of the day to discuss with us the importance of group cooperation and time management. Many of these skills would be crucial as our team prepared for the High School Computer Competition.
Yaw at BDPA Computer Camp
Of my three experiences with HSCC, I remember the pre-competition practice session of the 2015 BDPA Technology Conference held in Washington DC. During that session, our full team of members, ranging for 10th to 12th grade, meticulously went down the list of programs required for our .NET application and began to formulate a game plan what we would do first, debate who would be at the computer first and go over what our timeline would look like. It was in this rehearsal that I saw poignantly how Mr. Hill's training could come together and just how much software development can depend on a well managed team.
Yaw (2nd from left) and other members of 2015 HSCC Team
I greatly appreciated the opportunity, afforded by BDPA, to get an early glimpse of the professional IT world and I now more eagerly await my chance to enter it. Armed with the lessons BDPA has taught me over the years, I hope to not only survive but thrive at what is to be the challenging yet rewarding experience of concentrating in computer science at college."
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| Pierre Cireus * JnJ Scholar |
"My involvement in BDPA chapter is not very extensive. My University does not have a chapter of its own (hence I could not participate in all the activities), therefore I was simply adopted by BDPA Orlando a few months ago. Although, I have to say, the BDPA chapter offers a lot of opportunities for young African American men and women to learn and pursue an education, and that is how the BDPA chapter has impacted me."
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| Priyanka Jain |
"Last year, I participate at BioGENEius competition and was honored by Ms. Seema Kumar, Vice President of Innovation, Global Health and Policy Communication, Johnson & Johnson, when I placed 2nd for my project on Cancer research. She had a quite an influence on me. Winning BDPA scholarship moment was really special when I found out the morning I was supposed to go to deliver medical supplies to a remote area in Peru. Winning BDPA has motivated me to do a summer internship at Johnson & Johnson and to double my research efforts in the field of medicine and community work to make world a better place."
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| Jalil Peterman |
"The most memorable moment from BDPA that I can take with me would of course be the experience of the HSCC competition. From the day we left for the conference until the day we got home, we had a very unique experience. I remember our instructor coming over to our room to give us presenting tips and reviewing key words with us. The day of the competition had my mind everywhere, being in a room full of other competitors that possess the same skill as us but only few could come out on top. On the day of the award ceremony I was very surprised when they called our name for coming in third place. Knowing you worked hard on something and it paying off like that is something I will never forget.
Participating in the BDPA program has left me with a more open mind about how to solve problems and most definitely how to interact with others and present myself to others. I have also taken away 'how to plan out' and 'how to get certain task done' is a much better use of my time."
BDPA Gr. Columbia (Braxton, Briana, Jalil)
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| Jordan Brown |
"Receiving the Monsanto/BDPA Scholarship has lessened my financial burden thus allowing me to focus on my academic pursuit in addition to balancing financial goals and academic acuity. Although my current major is Graphic Design, In the near future, I see myself with a career in the coexisting fields of Architecture and Information Technology. Currently a student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, my overall career goal is to master and educate others on the process of critical thinking and problem solving through operational systems and other conceptions in both the Information Technology and architectural fields."
