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| Home | News | Donate | Contact Us | Volume 10 Issue 3 | January 11, 2012 |
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January 2012 Youth Spotlight—Rodney Senter
The 19-year-old came to the program on October 24, 2011
and was the first student to complete the IC3 certification, a
computer user training through which students acquire hardware and software
skills transferrable to the workplace. As part of his computer technician
training, Rodney builds computers to give away to the community, an on-going
service learning project at the IT Forward CJC. He also is one of the first
technicians to repair computers when members of the public bring in their
computers to be fixed, and assists staff with testing computer monitors.
Rodney will work towards his A+ certification in 2012 which will require 200
hours of class time followed by the A+ Exam. Meghan Fish-Stuhl, IT Assistant Trainer & Service Learning Project
Coordinator says of Rodney, “Rodney has been a good team leader [for his
cohort of 6 students]. Because he was in the first group of students, he
pushed through the obstacles that future students would encounter [in the
program].” Rodney is thankful for the IT Forward CJC program and says, “[The
IT Forward CJC] is a good stepping stone to get where I’m trying to go
as a computer technician. The
program has taught me the fundamentals I will need to use in the IT world.”
For
more information about the IT Forward Civil Justice Corps, please
contact our Program Director, John Corsell at (813) 374-0130 or email
jcorsell@computermentors.org for program requirements. The IT Forward
Civil Justice Corps is a program of Computer Mentors Group, Inc. a Tampa
Bay technology education non-profit and is located at 5201 N. Nebraska
Ave., Tampa FL, 33603.
 CMG Youth Program Needs Mentors!
Each mentor will work one-on-one with a teenage youth
who has selected a project. We are currently accepting applications
for mentors to be placed in a pool of Information Technology Mentors by
skill set. If a youth selects a project that you have the skill set to
complete, then you will be notified, and if you choose and are available,
you will be paired with the youth. We are soliciting both local and remote mentors.
Local mentors will be given preference, but many projects will be able to be
completed without [mentors] being physically located here in Tampa.
[For local mentors], we would like for you to meet with your mentee at least
bi-weekly. Meetings will be held here at our East Tampa location at
2802 E. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Ste F, Tampa, FL 33610.
IT professionals interested in mentoring
should contact Kéto Nord Hodges, Youth Program Manager, at (813)
236-1191 or via email at
KHodges@computermentors.org. Also, the program
handbook is available online at by using this link.
From The Director
Happy New Year Everyone! We had a great year in 2011 and are looking forward to
another great one as well. 2011
saw us win two large grants, one federal and one large state grant.
Those grants allowed us to have a successful income year and have led
the way in the strengthening our outlook for 2012. Now that the holidays are over, it’s time once again to
settle back in to our daily routines, and for us that means preparing your
next great employee. This year
we’ve decided to completely revamp our existing youth program and implement
a service learning model. Our
youth are now preparing to undertake projects submitted by non-profit
agencies that will assist these agencies with technology.
A couple of great projects have already been submitted, and we are
anticipating quite a few more.
The way it will work is that non-profit organizations will submit a project
via the approved form (please request via email).
Staff will review the project request and gather any additional
information needed for approval.
Once approved, projects are placed in a queue and presented to the youth.
Youth then pick projects that have skills that they would like to
learn. Students are then paired
with a technology mentor who will assist them in completing the project. Though we know that the non-profit agencies will gain
from this program, the youth will be the big winners.
They will be gaining technology skills and invaluable experience
toward employment. They will
also have the opportunity to meet and work with Information Technology
professionals while also earning great incentives for completing projects.
Each project is rated by difficulty and estimated length of time to
complete, and the incentive that the student earns is based on the
combination of difficulty and estimated time.
If you know of a non-profit that would like to submit a
project, we encourage you to forward this information to them.
We are seeking projects that can be completed within a six-month time
frame and involves Information Technology to a high degree.
We expect projects such as the following but not limited to:
web-development; video production; graphics arts projects (event booklets,
brochures…); database projects; and e-mail distribution system projects. Thank you and regards, |
Rodney Senter Story
Phone: (813) 236-1191
