City Youth Compete at 4th Annual Community Technology Summit
Atlanta, Ga. - The Mayor’s Office of Community Technology will host the First Annual Technology Fair for Atlanta Youth, March 10-12. Nearly 300 youth between the ages of 12-18 submitted entries by last week’s deadline. Preliminary judging of the entries will occur on Saturday, February 28th at the Adamsville Recreation Center in Northwest Atlanta.
Final judging will be conducted by government and business technology leaders as part of the 4th Annual Community Technology Summit at the Georgia Tech Hotel and Conference Center. The overall theme of the conference is “Wireless Opportunities for Municipal Government to Narrow the Digital Divide.”
Commenting on the Youth Fair, Mayor Franklin said, “Involving youth in technology at an early age will reap important educational benefits in the areas of science and math. We want to emphasize to our youth that technology literacy is just as important in today’s world and economy as all the other skills they learn.” The Mayor added: “In order for our children to compete for educational scholarships and employment opportunities, they must be digitally literate.”
Youth at various public and private Atlanta schools have entered innovative projects that include the future of artificial intelligence, a 3D image of Megatron, a robotic book bag, a wireless network using 802.11 Standard, and a multimedia video of the newly renovated Pink Pig ride at Lenox Mall.
“Technology can be fun as well as informative,” says Jabari Simama, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Technology. “Who knows, among our entrants may be the future Bill Gates. We believe all who participate are winners and there is no limit to what our students can achieve if given encouragement and opportunity.”
The contest is made possible by a sponsorship grant from the engineering and construction firm, CH2H HILL, Inc. “We are just thrilled with the opportunity to sponsor the City’s youth technology fair,” said Gerri Dickerson, Vice President and Area Manager of CH2M Hill. “We strongly believe that it is our corporate and civic responsibility to nurture young minds. Students are our technology leaders of tomorrow.”
The Mayor’s Office of Community Technology offers free computer training and access to the Internet from 13 facilities throughout the city of Atlanta. It sponsors a national conference each year that brings together government, community and business leaders to discuss solutions to ending the digital divide. For more information, visit: www.atlantacommunitytech.com or call William Lindsey at 404-880-7225.
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