BDPA Northern Virginia Provides STEM Training for Young People

The Student Information Technology Education & Scholarship (SITES) program is growing stronger all across the nation. Evidence of this fact can be found in Northern Virginia ... home of our BDPA Northern Virginia chapter. The SITES program is designed to instruct students in technology and build them for success in the future business world.

Here are the young people in the 2013 SITES program in Northern Virginia:

Seated (L-R): Princess Robinson, Michelle Ruiz, Ebony Jones, Beleicia Bullock, and Nnedimma Ugochukwu
Standing (L-R): Kayla Johnson, JaRhonda Roberts and Christal Robinson

BDPA Northern Virginia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The chapter hasn't been active with programs for adult IT professionals for a couple of years. However, the chapter partners with BDPA Washington DC to provide meaningful STEM-related training to dozens of young people. These students receive a solid foundation for their collegiate and professional careers. These 8th-thru-12th grade students have the opportunity to design, develop, test and present a finished web application. Students are trained to develop solutions to realistic business and industry problems using Java, JavaScript, PHP, SQL, HTML, MySQL Database, Tomcat and CSS. Students also gained essentials skills such as presentation delivery, communication, and teamwork.

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation is working hard to provide funding for SITES programs like this one all over the nation.  We need your help ... please make a secure online donation right away!.

BDPA Computer Camp (Washington DC)

We are recruiting high school students for meaningful STEM experiences in the greater Washington DC area. See the following flyer for details ... and please share with any of your DC-based associates.

BDPA Computer Camp: Washington DC (2013) from Wayne Hicks

Bemley Scholar Victoria Walton Seeks College Degree from Fashion Institute of Technology

Victoria Walton was an 8th-grade student when she was a member of the high-performing High School Computer Competition (HSCC) team trained by BDPA Northern Virginia. The outstanding performance of her team at the 2008 National BDPA HSCC Championship earned her a Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship.

She shared her thoughts and aspirations with us recently.

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My name is Victoria Walton. I am an 18-year old high school graduate of Lanham Christian School in Lanham, MD. I will be attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in the fall.

I have always believed that I was meant to be different. My life has been an accumulation of unique experiences and door opening opportunities. Each of those instances has molded me into an aware, intellectual, ambitious and inventive young woman.

From the time I was little and onward, I have always been fascinated with the wonder and creativity that is art. I excelled in many different art forms from adolescence and could never seem to let go of my artistic bend as I grew older. At the age of 12, I was introduced to the world of fashion and have been enthralled with it ever since. I believe that it is what I am supposed to pursue as a career. Over the last six years, I have taken the preliminary steps to make this a reality. Academically, I excelled and graduated Salutatorian of my senior class and received the honor of being bestowed the President’s Award. I have been offered a chance to study abroad in Florence, Italy for my freshmen year of college.

Your financial assistance through the Jesse Bemley Scholarship is greatly appreciated. The opportunity to study abroad will widen my horizons and give me a unique edge as a fashion student. I will be hard-working, dedicated, and make a positive statement in my academic and personal life, attempting to touch the world as I make a name for myself in the Fashion industry.

Being involved in BDPA in 2008 was an eye opening, positive experience. I learned so much in my time involved in the program. I had many memorable moments but perhaps my favorite was when I participated in the HSCC and my team earned a fourth place at the national HSCC championship. I was in eighth grade at the time and programming was completely new to me. I had taken up an interest in it and decided to give it a try. I put all my energy into learning the craft. At times, I stayed up all night and had study groups with my fellow peers. Although, I was unsure of my potential and knowledge, I was able to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to compete with my team. We worked hard together and did the best we possibly could. I remember the night the awards were given out. We were all so anxious and excited. The moment they called our names and asked us to come on stage was an amazing moment. It was such an accomplishment. BDPA is a great organization and taught me a lot. It was a worthwhile experience.

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BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud of Victoria and the hundreds of other Bemley Scholars that we've supported over the year. We want to significantly increase the dollar amount of these college scholarships.

 We need your help to 'make it so'!

Bemley Scholar Titus Thomas Heads to Bowie State University

Titus Thomas

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) has given out over 85 Jesse Bemley Scholarships valued at $154,000 since 1999 to talented high school students with a passion for science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) education. We are proud of all of these young men and women.  

Titus Thomas is our next Bemley Scholar.

He is a 3-time participant in the National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships as a member of two chapters (Northern Virginia and Washington DC).  Titus will use his Bemley Scholarship to defray expenses for attending Bowie State University. He shared his thoughts on BDPA with us:

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My name is Titus Thomas and I am a freshman in college. I grew up in Washington D.C. In comparison to others, my life has somewhat been a bed of roses. I have two strict but loving parents, who teach me, care for me and feed me, not just to make me happy, but also to keep me healthy. I grew up with an older brother and an older and younger sister. Because of my parents I am the smart, creative and helpful person I am today. They taught me the difference between right and wrong.

For hobbies I developed the natural desire to play video-games but there was another game that I took interest in that other kids did not, Chess. At times my dad would take me after school to visit my mom at her job. There, I met the man who I have always known as “Mr. Bradley.” He taught me the basics. I used what he taught me to challenge my older brother in a series of chess games, where I was unsuccessful but I did not let that stop me. During middle school, I joined the chess club, where I furthered my skills until I realized that I was the best player in the school.

I attended one of the best schools in Washington D.C. with a clean academic history. I became one of the best chess players in the city at my age and was in the International Baccalaureate program. My dreams have been centered on being a technologist, mechanic, or aerospace engineer, but now I have decided to do something that I always have loved - a computer scientist. Like chess, I have always been a good “techie.” Around school I help teachers with their computer if it is acting up and help my parents and friends do certain things in Microsoft Word. I did not truly understand my passion for computers and technology until I joined the BDPA program where students compete internationally by creating websites using computer coding languages such as Hypertext Markup Language, Cascading Style Sheets and JavaScript. Our team placed in fourth in 2008 and third in 2009 and second place in 2010.

Looking back I can say the HSCC program is the reason for where I am and who I am today. I began participating in my first year of high school where I basically sat in each class and goofed off with my friends. Our HSCC coordinator, Mr. Lou Shack, saw that I had much more potential and would always treat me like I would do something great with my life, which I had a bigger purpose than to just, sit around all day doing nothing. So I got my act together next year and placed fourth in the 2008 National HSCC championship with my team.

Each national competition had new surprises and people to meet. From military leaders to the vice president of Wal-Mart, the networking never ended! The four years have gone by very quickly and now that I am in college the HSCC group continues to help guide me. Nothing but good has come from participating to the HSCC program and I would recommend it to any high school student who is interested in using computers.

And now in college I expect to learn as much as I can about computers as well as make good grades so that when I graduate from college, with my bachelors or masters in Computer Science, I can find a good job doing what I love. I also want to be able to return to the HSCC group that helped me get into college and help them in teaching their computer class.

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BETF is very proud of Titus. We hope that you are proud of him as well. You can help us provide scholarships to many more if you have inclination to do so. We need your financial support if we hope to continue handing out these Bemley Scholarships in the future.

In the meantime, we hope you will REPLY or COMMENT on this post with your thoughts about this testimonial from Titus.  Share some BDPA-love with this young man!

HSCC Testimonial: Francisco Nunez (Washington DC, 2006-2010)

Francisco Nunez holds a unique position within the 25-year history of the BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) championships for two reasons. First, he may be the first student to ever compete in five (5) different HSCC championships. Second, he is the only student to ever represent 3 different BDPA chapters in the national championships.

• 2006, Washington DC
• 2007, Washington DC
• 2008, Northern VA
• 2009, Baltimore
• 2010, Washington DC

Francisco has many fond memories of the national conferences that he attended in 2006-2010. He earned $5,500 from the Dr. Jesse Bemley Scholarship fund as a result of his performance in these national HSCC championships.  Francisco also earned Oracle Scholarship honors in 2010 and 2011.  He is using his scholarship funds to attend Morehouse College.

When asked to reflect on his accomplishments within BDPA, Francisco wrote,

"My name is Francisco Nunez of the BDPA Washington DC Chapter. I have been in the High School Computer Competition (HSCC) program for half a decade. I have many fond memories of the national conferences that I’ve attended during that time.

One of those memories came in 2006 when our team placed high enough to earn a Bemley Scholarship. It was my first year and I worked hard with my teammates to get there. When I heard the coordinator calling out our chapter has one of the winners … it was like nothing I have ever felt.

I fought every year after that to hold on to that feeling. My team has placed near the top every year since. We were never able to place in first place; however, placing in the top 3 for five years is nothing to sneeze at.

I have no regrets.”

Where Are They Now: BDPA Northern Virgina Chapter Charter Members

In December 2005, BDPA launched an official Northern Virginia chapter. The chapter is based at the McLean, VA headquarters office of founding sponsor Freddie Mac.

"Northern Virginia is Tech Central, and we are delighted that BDPA has a home in this technology corridor," BDPA past national president Wayne Hicks was quoted as saying at the time. "A diverse range of IT pros will be able to tap into new resources and networking opportunities to help advance their careers."

The photo shows the following folks attended the first BDPA NOVA chapter meeting in December 2005: Back row, from left, Ron Evans, Al Bess, Craig Robles, Mike Bruce, Earl Pace (BETF Chairman of the Board), Dwight Handon, James White, Ron McKenzie, Melanie Wyche, Scott Price and Ron Stowe. Front row, from left, Debra Langenkamp, Rory Miott, Carol Hogard, Gary Simms and Lolita Hill.

Where are they now?

2008 National BDPA High School Computer Competition Winners

BDPA trained hundreds of students this year. Some of the top students from all over the country converged on Atlanta for the 23rd annual National BDPA High School Computer Competition (HSCC) in August 2008.

These students attended technology workshops at the Youth Technology Camp before beginning the 2-day HSCC event. The first day focused on an oral exam and a computerized individual written exam answering on topics such as database, HTML/Internet, general computer knowledge and BDPA History.

On the second day, the students were asked to develop an online bank loan application. Each team had a choice of technologies to use in the programming part of the competition -- JAVA, PHP, .NET or ASP. The judges provided them with the specifications at 8:00 am. The students then have seven (7) hours and one computer to complete the task.

Did I mention that the students don't have the luxury of any cool tools commonly used to create web pages. They used text editors like note pad to design their solutions.

These students did an outstanding job. However, only the top five teams were eligible for Bemley Scholarships. The top five teams in the 2008 national competition are:

1. BDPA Southern Minnesota - This team defended the national championship that they won last year. In fact, the young men and women from Rochester MN won the championship in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. Each member of this year's team won a $2,500 Bemley Scholarship!


2. BDPA Washington DC - For the second year in a row the young men and women from our nation's capital took home the silver medal along with $2,000 Bemley Scholarships!


3. BDPA Chicago - This is the only team in the past five years to beat Southern Minnesota for the championship .... they won it all in 2006. For the second year in a row, the young students from the Windy City are bringing home the HSCC bronze medal and $1,500 Bemley Scholarships.


4. BDPA Northern Virginia - This chapter participated in the national HSCC for the first time ever. They came correct! Their fourth place finish earned each member of the team a $1,000 Bemley Scholarship.


5. BDPA Atlanta - How cool is it to be the host chapter of the annual conference and also have high school students winning $500 Bemley Scholarships! That is the experience of the team from Hotlanta this year.

Have you watched or worked with the HSCC program this year or at some point in the past? Care to share your observations on the HSCC program or these remarkable students? What say u?