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GamingAngels and National Computer Camp Announce Second Annual Scholarship for Girl Gamers

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GamingAngels.com, the leading gaming community for women has announced the start of our second annual scholarship to National Computer Camp. The scholarship is open to young girls and the purpose is to foster a love and appreciation for tech.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif., Feb. 3, 2011 (PressReleasePoint) – GamingAngels.com and National Computer Camp (NCC) are offering a scholarship for NCC’s June/July 2012 enrollment valued at $985 to a female student (ages 8-18) for one week.
 At NCC (http://www.NCCamp.com), campers can design a 2D or 3D video game, learn to program, create a graphic video, take apart a computer, create a home page, play tennis, play Civilization and make new friends. Now in its 34th year, NCC is America’s original computer camp with locations in Connecticut, Georgia, New York and Ohio.

“We’re excited to offer this scholarship again on GamingAngels.com,” said Trina Finton, CEO and Founder of GamingAngels.com. “We had great entries last year and look forward to innovative entries this year. We’re going to step it up by having game designers read over the essays and pick the winner this year. I could not be more proud to offer this scholarship to help encourage young women to explore technology and have fun with it!”



National Computer Camp provides an opportunity for young people from all parts of the United States and around the world to interact creatively. This harmonic integration of young minds is the primary focus of NCC. Computer camp is the brainchild of Dr. Michael Zabinski who was awarded several federal grants to train teachers to integrate computers into their classrooms. In an effort to reach young people personally, he established the first of these educational summer camps, coining the phrase “computer camps” to describe them, and then founded NCC.


The 500 – 600 word essay must be submitted to scholarship@gamingangels.com no later than May 31, 2012. Along with the essay, include name, address, telephone, email address, and age. The winning essay will be posted on GamingAngels.com for readers to enjoy. A GamingAngels.com panel consisting of game designers will judge the essays and the scholarship recipients will be announced on June 8, 2012. For a scholarship to be awarded, at least five entries need to be received. Former scholarship winners are not eligible. Essays submitted previously will not be accepted.

Donations to the Scholarship Fund: Any organization that is interested in donating to the scholarship fund, please contact scholarship@gamingangels.com.

About National Computer Camp

NCC is passionate about computer technology being vital to the education of today’s youth. Since 1977, NCC has been providing a stimulating environment where cooperative learning is the key to success. We are the original computer camp in the US. What distinguishes NCC from other computer camps is that NCC aims to provide youngsters with life long computer skills. To this end NCC provides a solid foundation in programming with emphasis on game design, web design, Android App programming, applications and languages.
 
For more information about National Computer Camp, visit http://www.NCCamp.com
 



About GamingAngels.com
GamingAngels.com launched in 2005 as a blog with the objective to get women writing and talking about video games during a time when very few women were in the industry. Over the past 6 years, the site has become the largest female gaming community online. As of 2012, GamingAngels.com covers technology, comics and pop culture in addition to video games. The site’s mission is to encourage young women to consider the technology or video game industries for a potential career path. Every year, members of the staff speak to groups of young teens, volunteer at events and are honored to partner with NCC

Lenovo and the National Academy Foundation Launch Mobile App Development Program for High School Students

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Schools Pilot Premier Curriculum Using Latest Technology Devices to Strengthen 21st Century STEM Skills

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – JANUARY 24, 2012: Lenovo and the National Academy Foundation (NAF) today launched an innovative program to teach mobile app development to high school students across the United States. Five schools from NAF’s network of career academies are piloting the program as part of Lenovo’s initiative to encourage greater student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects and to strengthen 21st century skills. This innovative curriculum will also strengthen NAF’s mission to prepare students for college and career success. N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue and members of Lenovo and NAF’s executive leadership team made the announcement today at Apex High School’s Academy of Information Technology in Apex, N.C., one of the participating schools.

“High-tech skills are critical for North Carolina’s pipeline of future workers,” said Gov. Perdue. “Unique partnerships like this one not only give high school students real-world, real-time learning opportunities, but they align with the broader goals of business, education and government to create North Carolina’s next generation of professional leaders.”

To aid the students and teachers implement the curriculum, Lenovo provided a package of technology products to each school, including Android-based ThinkPad Tablets and large format ThinkCentre HD All-in-One desktops, among other items.

“To succeed in tomorrow’s workforce, students need a solid foundation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics with fluency in the technologies that will power the global economy,” said Michael Schmedlen, worldwide director of education, Lenovo. “This exciting program engages students via the technology and apps they use every day. By partnering with the National Academy Foundation, we’re delivering a rigorous and relevant curriculum that will help create our next generation of developers and entrepreneurs.”

The other schools that will offer the app development course are part of the National Academy Foundation’s Academies of Information Technology: Grover Cleveland High School in New York City, Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles, Pathways to Technology Magnet School in Hartford, Conn., and A.J. Moore Academy of Information and Technology in Waco, Texas. The program aims to ultimately make the curriculum available to NAF’s 100 Academies of Information Technology.

“Our schools are strong because we have great partnerships with business and industry,” said Anthony J. Tata, superintendent of the Wake County Public School System. “This unique program gives our students practical experience with innovative technology at a time when they’re making decisions about their future careers. We’re creating the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The course is designed to be implemented as either a 12-week after-school or “out-of-school time” activity to supplement the NAF-developed IT courses students take during the school day or as part of the existing NAF daytime curriculum. Student teams will develop a working wireframe, business plan and implementation schedule for an Android-based mobile application.

“The partnership between NAF and Lenovo is a real example of how business and education can play a pivotal role in changing high school education to ensure college and career success. We are pleased to be working with such innovative thinkers to inspire and equip tomorrow’s leaders,” said JD Hoye, president of the National Academy Foundation.

New Research Shows Kids Want to Learn App Development but Lack Tech Confidence
New research from Lenovo also supports creation of the mobile app development curriculum. The research shows that while students have a strong interest in mobile apps – which many of them use on a daily basis – and see app development as a valuable skill, they don’t have confidence that they will have the technology background needed for tomorrow’s workforce. The Omnibus survey of American teenagers, conducted in December of 2011, found that:

· 80 percent of American teens would be interested in learning how to create their own mobile app.
· Almost a quarter (22 percent) think that mobile app development will be the most important technology skill to have when entering the workforce in a few years.
· 63 percent are only somewhat confident, at best, that the technology know-how they have now is enough to secure a good job upon entering the workforce.

About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $US21 billion personal technology company serving customers in more than 160 countries, and the world’s second-largest PC vendor. Dedicated to building exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet devices, Lenovo’s business is built on product innovation, a highly-efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Formed by Lenovo Group’s acquisition of the former IBM Personal Computing Division, the company develops, manufactures and markets reliable, high-quality, secure and easy-to-use technology products and services. Its product lines include legendary Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea-branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, workstations, and a family of mobile internet devices, including tablets and smart phones. Lenovo has major research centers in Yamato, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information see www.lenovo.com.

About NAF
The National Academy Foundation (NAF) is a leader in the movement to prepare young people for college and career success. For nearly 30 years, NAF has refined a proven educational model which includes industry-focused curricula, work-based learning experiences, and business partner expertise from five themes: Finance, Hospitality & Tourism, Information Technology, Engineering, and Health Sciences. Employees of more than 2,500 companies volunteer in classrooms, act as mentors, engage NAF students in paid internships and serve on local advisory boards. During the 2010-2011 school year, 60,000 students attended 500 NAF academies across 40 states, D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. NAF’s national graduation rate of 90 percent testifies to the effectiveness of this effort.

So Christmas week…..

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Maybe I am a Scrooge but I never liked this week before christmas. People are mean, rude and inconsiderate. Perhaps the reason I feel this way is because I have sold computers to the retail market for so long I have seen the worst that people will do to unsuspecting retailers when we are trying to do the best job we can do.

So when someone walks out of my office claiming to offer me a Merry Christmas, I laugh because I know that if that customer didnt get his way in my office I would have been given a different greeting all together.

Thinning your customers out

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It would seem that over the years I have learned one thing about customers and customer service. The first thing is that we all fight for customers and market share. However I have found that there comes a time that we as a business need to look at specific customers to determine if in fact the relationship has become unprofitable. Now this is not a very common event but I can think of 3 instances where I have had to tell a customer that our product is not up to their standards and that they should look elsewhere for their computer needs.

Now the relationship never starts in an unprofitable way. In fact the customer looks like a nice addition to our base. However something happens to that customer over time. Either their company or financial situation changes or they just no longer have the necessary motivation to keep a win win situation in the sales relationship. But for whatever reason this happens.

Typically I have noticed that these customers can drain a company of not only resources like manpower but also money. Once I have made the decision to cut the customer loose. They seem surprised and can’t figure out how a company can say no we do not wish to sell to you any longer. This is one of the most important and hardest lessons to learn as a business. How to say no.

General Computer repair standards

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There are some things that just always happen. These situations usually occur in a standard order everytime:

When dealing with the general public and repairing their computers there are certain things that I will call ‘givens’:

1. Yes you have a virus, yes your teenage son was surfing Porn.
2. Yes once I completely reload your machine all of your software and data will be gone.
3. If your machine connects to the internet in my office but not at your home the problem is not with your computer. (User error)
4. No we are unable to just glue the screen back together like you can a car windshield.

These are just a few of the things that I encounter. As I encounter other situations I will post here.

North Virginia FireRescue & EMS Expo

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That’s right I am back.  Having been at the North Virginia FireRescue & EMS Expo all this past weekend (Dec 2 -4 2011) I can say that I had a great time.  I met a lot of fire and EMS guys.  I can say that there is a ton of equipment out for the Fire and EMS organizations and to go through every booth at the expo was very hard.  I spent alot of time talking to vendors from all over the East Coast.

Now no doubt I had fun at the Expo.  However during the 3 days that I stayed in Chantilly, Virginia I had the pleasure of staying at at the Fairfield Inn Marriott.  It was quiet and included a King Size bed which was a nice touch.  We stayed on the second floor and had a breakfast included in our $69 rate.  What a deal.

During our stay we ate at the Steakhouse right near the hotel.  It was great, the service was fast and pleasant.  In addition we found this little barbecue place near the Dulles Expo Center.  In fact it was within walking distance of the Expo.  I had a great pulled pork sandwich on Saturday and on Sunday I ate a Turkey Hot Cold sandwich.  Wow it was really good!

So my advice is for anyone looking to visit Chantilly Virginia you might find the food really good.  I in fact will be coming back next year to the 2012 expo.