News Feature

SIM-Sponsored Summer Camp Teaches Kids about Technology

Teen Tech Camp is one of a number of programs sponsored by professional technology organizations whose goal is get kids excited about careers in IT.

July 13, 2007 — CIO — This week, the Memphis Public Library and Information Center is holding its third annual Teen Tech Camp for students ages 12 to 15. Sponsored by the Society for Information Management’s SIM Foundation, Teen Tech Camp is designed to get kids excited about technology—and careers in technology—by teaching them how to produce podcasts and webcasts and by exposing them to adults working in the technology field.

Teen Tech Camp is one of a number of programs sponsored by professional technology organizations whose goal is to teach K-12 students about technology and careers in IT. Other initiatives include the Computing Technology Industry Association’s (CompTIA) Creating Futures Program, which is geared toward inner-city kids as well as veterans and individuals with disabilities, and Technology Goddesses, which pairs adolescent girls interested in technology with younger girls who are just discovering it. Organizations like SIM and CompTIA see these programs as a way to reverse declining enrollments in college computer science programs and ultimately increase the pipeline of qualified IT professionals. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the percent of college freshmen planning to pursue computer science degrees decreased since 2001 from 3.7 percent to 1.1 percent.

“There’s a growing concern that kids are not as interested in IT as they once were,” says Bob Keefe, senior VP and CIO of Mueller Water Products and president elect of SIM. “There’s a perception that IT people are more scientific in nature, more analytical in nature, and that IT is not as cool as other professions. This Teen Tech Week summer camp lets kids see the cool side of information technology. It’s not all about programming and database design.”

Subhed: Not Your Traditional Summer Camp

Students who participate in the program must be accepted (a teacher and their parents have to recommend the teenagers, and each has to answer a few short essay questions). During the five-day program, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., they work on a multimedia project. In the program’s first year, students created a website for Teen Tech Camp. The second year they produced webcast commercials for the library, all of which have been posted to YouTube. (One is embedded below.) This year, they’re filming and editing their own short documentaries.

Molly Wilkens-Reed, a 14-year-old home schooler who wants to be a pediatrician, concert violinist or dance instructor some day, is making a movie about Irish step dancing. Her video, which includes footage she captured of a friend demonstrating the technique, talks about the elaborate costumes and the music. She says she’s attending Tech Camp because her mom wants her to improve her computer skills. She doesn’t have a computer at home but says she comes to the library often to use its PCs.