Oracle Scholarship Winner: Brandi Taylor (BDPA Greater Columbia)

Oracle senior diversity consultant Traci Wade announced the winners of the 5th annual Oracle Scholarship for BDPA Students during the 2013 BDPA Awards Gala. One of those winners is BDPA Greater Columbia student member Brandi Taylor.

Brandi is the proud daughter of Jessie and Yvette Taylor. She is currently a 10th grade student at Irmo High School in Columbia, South Carolina. Brandi participates in many extracurricular activities including, Track, Girls Scouts, National Beta Club, National BDPA and her local church. She has won numerous awards such as, National Junior Scholar (2009-2010) and Academic Excellence (2010-2011).

Brandi is a two-time participant in the BDPA IT Showcase. Her IT Showcase research and presentation was entitled, 'Penetrating the Cloud: Exploration of Cloud Computing.'  Brandi’s current career plan after high school is to become a Nurse. Her ultimate motto is “I can do anything if I put my mind to it.”

Message from BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter President

Hello,

LaDonna Crum

I wanted to take that time to say, "Hello"!  I am not sure if everyone is aware that I have taken the opportunity to lead our local chapter as its president.  I have been a member of BDPA Greater Birmingham for some time now, I served as the chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) from 2004-2006.

I am still transitioning to the new leadership position, but, I wanted to contact our group and open up lines of communication with the members and supporters of the BDPA Greater Birmingham chapter.

I attended the April 2013 conference call of BDPA South Regional Chapter Presidents. The conference call focused on the need to encourage all BDPA members to register for the 35th annual National BDPA Technology Conference on August 14- 17, 2013 in Washington DC. Please let me know if you plan to attend. Feel free to email me with this information.

Finally, I would like to schedule a face-to-face meeting with chapter members on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

Thank you,
LaDonna Crum, president
BDPA Greater Birmingham Chapter

This Week in BDPA (Mar 14-20)

BDPA has 45 chapters around the nation. You can always find programs, services or networking activity here or here. BDPA supports your efforts for career advancement in the IT industry.

Are you taking advantage of these programs? Here is a weekly preview of upcoming events gathered from the centralized BDPA calendar:

• Mar 16: Greater Birmingham - Program Meeting, 'Job Market in Today's Economy'


• Mar 18: Cincinnati - Program Meeting, 'Financial Mastery 101: Getting Your Financial House in Order'


• Mar 20: Los Angeles - Program Meeting, 'Wordpress ... Do It Yourself Websites'

We encourage all BDPA leaders to take advantage of the centralized BDPA Groupsite Calendar to post your upcoming events! Please let us know of other BDPA events that we may have missed. Most importantly, let us know if you plan to attend any BDPA events this week.

Grant Award: IBM ($1,000)

We are very pleased to report that IBM sent BETF a $1,000 corporate community cash grant on behalf of Paulette Johnson-Davis for her hours of volunteer service.

The grant will be placed in the restricted Greater Columbia chapter fund to be used for their high school technology training program.

The IBM Corporate Community Cash Grant is a remarkable funding opportunity for any BDPA chapter with IBM employees or retirees in its membership.

Does your chapter have any IBMers in it?

Cedrick Moore Shares His Thoughts on BDPA

BDPA Education & Technology Foundation seeks funding each year for the BDPA IT Institute. One of the recent graduates from the IT Master Certificate program within the BDPA IT Institute is Cedrick Moore. Cedrick was kind enough to share his thoughts on the Institute as well as his thoughts on the benefits he received over the past years as both a BDPA member and BDPA leader. Cedrick wrote,

BDPA Institute - The BDPA IT Institute Master Certification provided me with the tools that I needed to venture out into the workforce. With discussions about topics such as Six Sigma, Project Management, and Capability Maturity Model (CMM), I was able to research some of the latest technology best practices and methodologies. Having this information allowed me to secure a position with one of the leading technology companies in the world, Hewlett-Packard.

BDPA Member - Being a member of BDPA has completely changed my career. While working for one of the largest Telecommunications companies in the U.S., I found that I needed a way to make myself standout. I wanted to be able to better articulate my ideas. I also wanted to be able to discuss my ideas freely with others in a similar role yet outside of my organization. The answer for me was BDPA. BDPA allowed me to not only share ideas and best practices with other members, it allowed me to obtain the technical skills and training via the BDPA National Conference. In terms of career moves, BDPA is directly responsible for my last two jobs (Senior System Analyst and currently, Senior Consultant with HP).

BDPA Leadership - Being in a leadership role within BDPA has been the greatest thing to ever happen to me. As the Founder and President of the Birmingham Chapter, I was able to meet chapter presidents from across the country. Many BDPA chapter presidents work for Fortune 500 companies while others own there own businesses. The experience provided invaluable networking opportunities. During the BDPA National Conference, you have a chance to converse with corporate CIOs and Senior Vice Presidents from across the country during corporate networking events. Locally, it has added tremendous value to my professional resume. The leadership skills that I learned have carried forward into every job that I have had ever since. If you can lead 50 plus volunteer members, you can definitely lead a team on the job. It was the perfect training.

Much love to Bro. Moore for sharing his testimonial! Have you considered becoming a BDPA member, leader or IT Institute student?