WhyITNow.org Announces IT Innovation Awards at Ohlone College Freemont, CA
Leading Information Technology (IT) professionals, organizations, educators will receive recognition for IT innovations that transform education and innovation in California. Awards will be announced at the 10th annual Silicon Valley Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT) competition.
Established by the WhyITNow.org initiative, a grass roots California based effort to promote California’s IT job opportunity pipeline, the IT Innovators award is given to industry organizations, government agencies and educational institutions that exemplify excellence in IT education and innovation.
The WhyITNow.org IT Innovators award committee is pleased to recognize the following organizations and individuals:
• Ohlone College’s Regional Cisco Network Academy Director Richard Grotegut
• Ohlone College’s Regional Cisco Network Academy Teachers George Wong, Dennis Smith and
• Julie Dunkle, Headquarters Education Manager Intel Corporation
• Cliff Monroe, Founder of the Silicon Valley StRUT chapter
• John Bjerke, Cisco Systems
• Steve Legere, Symantec
“Great things are happening in the California education and tech community and recognizing individuals and corporations that support IT education and innovation is a nice way to shine a spot light on innovation in California” said Bill Cullifer, Executive Director WebProfessionals.org and the Chair of the WhyITNow.org initiative.
“The StRUT competition is an excellent example of preparing our students for the workplace of the 21st century. No matter the field, virtually all exempt positions will require a strong foundation in STEM – science, technology, engineering and math. The problems these students will be solving in their careers don’t even exist today. So they have to have a strong foundation in STEM and in problem solving. StRUT does an exemplary job of providing that opportunity for our future generation of innovators” said Julie Dunkle, Headquarters Education Manager Intel Corporation.
About SVStRUT
The SVStRUT Competition has 4 main individual team components (45 minutes each) and one school component. A rubric and score sheet has been developed for judging these components. Medals will be awarded to each 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of each event. Prizes for the individual team winners and the winning schools will be awarded.
Computer Build: The judging and scoring for this component will be based on problem solving, mechanics, process, team character traits, and teamwork. Points will also be awarded for running a diagnostic test and the computer build time. The base computer model will be revealed to instructors at each school in mid January.
Presentation: The presentation component is part of the computer build and takes place afterwards. Each team will give a short presentation to the two judges who observed and scored the computer build. Points will be awarded on the presentations as well as teamwork. The specific judging and scoring will be based on the ability to communicate content and knowledge, organization, use of visual aides (PowerPoint), delivery, and teamwork. Troubleshooting: This component involves troubleshooting a Packet Tracer ITE (IT Essentials) scenario. Working as a team, the students must complete the packet tracer activity. This component will be timed as well.
Written Exam: There will be an exam for high school and middle school students participating. The exam will consist of 50 multiple choice, fill-in, and true/false questions, based on A+ certification content. Test will be scored individually and also averaged as a team score. The database of 150 questions and answers will be supplied to each instructor at each participating school in advance. The
50 questions on the exam will come from this database
About WhyITNow.org
WhyITNow.org is supported by a consortia of IT industry professionals, publishers, educators, government agencies and groups coming together for the benefit promoting awareness and jobs within the Information Technology (IT) profession.
The WhyITNow.org initiative aims to support and promote opportunities within IT by:
• Providing resources that will assist students, career changer and the IT professional to succeed
• Sharing resources regarding IT employment opportunities that are available across the IT sector including the Web and Communications industries
• Identifying where the jobs are and the steps to land then and keep them
• Sharing what salary surveys are telling us
• To promote IT Career Cluster resources, course of study and standards
• Promoting IT success stories
• Promoting diversity within the workforce
