BDPA Announces Two Mobile Application Scholarship Winners

Kareem DaSilva and Mayesha Awal win State Farm Scholarships

National BDPA announced their 2016 Student Mobile Application Showcase (MAS) Scholarship Award winners from educational institutions across the United States at their 38th Annual National Technology Conference and Career Fair on August 2016, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

The National BDPA Mobile Application Showcase, co-sponsored by McDonald's, State Farm Insurance and World Wide Technology allowed college and high school student developers the opportunity to participate in a two (2) day competition that tested their Android & iOS smartphone operating systems. The applications showcase represented three different application categories (business, personal productivity, and gaming). Monetary awards sponsored by State Farm were given to the top high school and college participants. Each participant received certificates of participation for their effort.

Tonji Zimmerman

Tonya Zimmerman is the coordinator of the Mobile Application Showcase.

"Congratulations to our 2016 Mobile Application Showcase participants & winners! I hope that this program and all of our student-focused programs has and will continue to inspire our students to become multi-language, multi-platform technologists. We look forward to next year's showcase and the participants' innovative app ideas!” exclaimed Tonji Zimmerman, MAS Coordinator.

There were two students who won the college and high school division of the showcase.   Kareem DaSilva is the winner of the College Student division.

Kareem DaSilva, the college student winner replied, "Throughout my experiences at BDPA, the Mobile Application Showcase stretched me the most, it pushed me to think, try, and succeed the hardest. Coming in 2nd place in 2015 only fueled me to build a better and more capable application. It forced me out of my comfort zone which showed me how much more I can grow and become better."

Mayesha Awal was a salutatorian from the class of 586 students at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.   She just entered Georgetown University as a freshman seeking to major in Biochemistry and Computer Science.

High school winner Mayesha Awal said, "I have always loved computer and computer technology ever since I was young. When applications on mobile phones were new, I wanted to make my own mobile application and wondered how I would get started. When the opportunity to make a mobile app came across, I immediately jumped on the opportunity because I wanted to challenge myself to see what I was capable of doing. The process itself was a little stressful at times, but it really showed me what weaknesses and strengths I have regarding computer programming. Finding an original idea was also a difficult process as there are numerous applications on the app store. I finally decided to make a social networking app called Moda because my friends once told me that they were worried about job prospects in fashion and design. I decided to have users on Moda be able to post their designs and have designer companies be able to recruit designers based upon their talent and skills. I also gained an appreciation for app development because I realized that it takes a great deal of patience, organization, and dedication to design a mobile app. I want to further enhance my application by adding more functionalities to my app and release it in various app stores."

For more details on the BDPA corporate sponsorship program, contact the corporate sales support team at (301) 584-3135 ext. 108 or corpsales@bdpa.org. Additionally, please visit www.bdpa.org.

BDPA iRadio Show: October 28, 2014 (Wayne Hicks, Tonji Zimmerman)

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) is very proud to be the creator of the BDPA iRadio Show. You can listen to the archive version of the show using the widget shown in the right-hand sidebar of this blog. FREE download from the iTunes Store is also available for our listeners!

Check Out Technology Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with BDPA on BlogTalkRadio

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The guest on the October 28th show:

Tonji Zimmerman - program manager, BDPA Mobile Application Showcase - Tonji Zimmerman is a senior technology consultant focused on e-learning solutions. For many years she served as the High School Computer Competition coordinator for BDPA Detroit chapter. She trained a number of high school students that earned both college scholarships and experiences that propelled them into colleges across the country. Tonji has taken on a new challenge for 2014-2015 ... she is the program manager for the National BDPA Mobile Application Showcase. This event allows both high school and college students an opportunity to develop a functional Mobile Application. The applications showcased will represent three different application categories (i.e. business, personal productivity, and gaming). The Showcase was piloted at the 2014 National BDPA Technology Conference with $19,000 in college scholarships being awarded by State Farm. Next year the goal is to have 40 students participating in the event. Tonji will have a lot to share with our iRadio Show audience!

Wayne Hicks - executive director, BDPA Education and Technology Foundation - Wayne provided an update on a number of initiatives taking place within the foundation.  He announced the names of the four students who won the 2014 Monsanto Scholarship for BDPA Students.  He also shared updates on successful grant proposals won by BETF from Creating IT Futures Foundation ($5,000) and GE Volunteers Foundation ($20,000).   BETF plans to participate in the #GivingTuesday fundraising campaign taking place on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (December 2, 2014).   The idea is to follow-up on Black Friday and Cyber Monday as events to galvanize the start of the holiday shopping season.   Finally, Wayne shared information about the BDPA Chapter Building Workshop series that is taking place in the BDPA Google+ Community.  Wayne can be found on Twitter - @BDPA

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We hope you enjoy the insights and commentary on the show from each of these guests. Please take a moment to post a comment to let us know that you care!

Grant Disbursement: BDPA Detroit ($739)

Tonji Zimmerman

We received a phone call earlier this week from BDPA Detroit chapter's High School Computer Competition (HSCC) coordinator Tonji Zimmerman. She wanted to know if the BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) could provide some financial support to get her to the annual HSCC coordinator's meeting being held in Las Vegas next month. This annual meeting is important because it is the opportunity for the organization to review the past year's performance as well as consider ideas that could improve the HSCC program in 2012. It is important to have BDPA Detroit in that meeting because of the success of that chapter's HSCC program over the past 26 years ... including its silver-medal performance in the 2011 national HSCC championship held earlier this year in Chicago. 

Anyhow, we were able to walk Tonji through the funding process that any chapter can use to seek financial support from BETF. Tonji worked with her chapter leadership and a formal request for $739 in funding was sent to BETF for consideration. 

BETF is proud to announce that the full $739 request has been approved. We are excited that we could provide this financial support to BDPA Detroit chapter!

United Way of Washtenaw County

BDPA Education and Technology Foundation (BETF) would love to see all of our members that work in Corporate America taking advantage of payroll deductions to support our efforts.   As such we were pleased to see that Tonji Zimmerman (University of Michigan) made payroll deduction donations via the United Way of Washtenaw County in support of the programs and services offered by BDPA Detroit chapter.

Our hope is that Tonji's selfless actions will be replicated by others. 

What say u?

Message from Detroit Chapter President

My first BDPA experience occurred in the Detroit chapter. I served as a chapter program committee chairperson under the chapter leadership of Diane Davis. Many years later I worked to bring the annual national BDPA technology conference to Detroit MI. - Wayne Hicks

BDPA Detroit chapter president Anquanette Clegg shared her post conference thoughts with her stakeholders in the message below:

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At the 31st annual National BDPA Technology Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, Compuware Corporation received an award for "Best Companies for Blacks In Technology".


Compuware also financially supported BDPA Detroit's Student IT Education & Scholarship (SITES) Program. With the funding, Detroit was able to send four (4) students (Matthew Clark, Jourdan West, Daniel Rothchild, and Darryn Brundage-Forrest) to participate in a Web Design competition. This year there were 23 teams, and Detroit's HSCC Team won 2nd Place. The Jesse Bemley Scholarship goes to the top five high school student teams competing in the annual national HSCC championships. The top five teams are those that received the highest team scores in the three phases of the HSCC competition (Oral, Written, and Programming competitions). Each member on the Detroit Team will receive a Bemley Scholarship award of $2,000 for college from the BDPA Education & Technology Foundation (BETF).

Thanks to all the members who volunteered your time for the program. Many of you spent countless hours interviewing and training students and helping with the local mock competition. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and they are appreciated! A SPECIAL thanks goes out to Tonji Zimmerman, Detroit's HSCC Coordinator and Trainer. She's given up practically all of her Saturdays for 5 months, to train the students and her hard work truly shined at the Conference.

While the Chapter can't repay anyone for their efforts, I hope you can find comfort in the great achievement of the Detroit Team.

Last but not least thanks to Renee Kent who was the student's chaperone this year!

Congrats to Detroit's Board of Director's and Members! At the Awards Gala the Detroit Chapter was the 2nd runner-up for the Chapter of the Year award! The National BDPA Awards Program provides a means to recognize individual chapters and members for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the mission and objectives of the National organization.

Thanks to the chapter Board of Directors for all of your support. A SPECIAL thanks goes to Tamika Smith (Diva Designs) for her work in preparing and submitting the Award Booklet. I, as Chapter President, have never been so proud to represent an organization of leaders who have effortlessley worked on behalf of this great Chapter.

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

SAVE THE DATES

• September 10th at 7:00 PM - Board of Director's meeting - If you are interested in attending you must send an email to detroit-secretary@bdpa-detroit.org.
• September 17th at 6:30 PM at Tech Town - Information Exchange Meeting - Further details will be sent soon.
• November 12th - Detroit's 1st Technology and Education Banquet - Details will be sent soon!

We are still looking for volunteers to join the 2010 Board of Director's! If you are interested in serving, please contact chapter president-elect Markita Wadley.

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It goes without saying that I have a soft spot in my heart for BDPA Detroit chapter. As such, it feels great to know that we will be issuing $2,000 Bemley Scholarships to the young men that represented Detroit chapter at the recent national high school computer competition (HSCC) held in Raleigh NC. However, we need some grassroots support from BETF-Blog readers if we hope to have this same level of Bemley Scholarships in 2010. Won't you consider making a secure online donation in support of our efforts?