Rockingham’s IT pros courted as mentors

The Rockingham County Information Technology Professionals Coalition recently discovered that mentoring local students creates a win-win situation for all sides.

Representatives from Rockingham County schools and Rockingham Community College addressed members of the IT professionals Thursday to explain ways the coalition could help keep some of the county’s most talented students from leaving home to work.

“We thought this would be an excellent opportunity for those of you in the IT business community to see how you can show our students what kind of jobs are available for them right here in their own back yards,” said Dennis Frye, director of instructional technology and media for RCS.

One of Frye’s goals Thursday was to interest local IT professionals in mentoring high school seniors working on projects in technological areas, but he was also interested in helping those same IT people identify gifted future employees.

“This is not a one-way street,” Frye said. “We hope that part of this mentoring process would be your ability to discover students who may want to further their working or learning relationships with your business after graduation.”

Since many young people leave Rockingham County to seek employment after graduation, Frye believes the involvement of people from the local business community in the instructional process will allow students to realize there are plenty of opportunities close to home.

“Hopefully, getting more people involved in the senior project mentoring program will help more students find jobs and advance their skills right here in Rockingham County,” he said.

Part of Thursday’s program included a presentation of one of the senior projects referred to by Frye. Craig Erskine, a senior at McMichael High School, explained the process and findings of his project examining the reliability of polygraph tests.

One of Erskine’s first objectives was to find a mentor to serve as a primary source of information and direction for the project. In Erskine’s case, the mentor ended up not only being out of Rockingham County, but out of state. He partnered with an officer assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, S.C.

“My brother works in Special Investigations and put me in touch with him,” Erskine said.

Over a long weekend at Shaw AFB, Erskine and his mentor tested a variety of hypotheses concerning ways to defeat the polygraph. Erskine’s final analysis determined polygraph tests had their place, but he did not feel they should be used in courtroom situations as positive proof of innocence or guilt.

“There are just too many ways someone can fool the machine,” he said.

Debbie Pulliam, who heads the senior projects program for RCS, told coalition members that process of completing the detailed research assignments was designed to enhance skills necessary for future success for the county’s students. Among those skills were critical thinking, the ability to analyze and synthesize information from a variety of disciplines, and skills to utilize 21st century technology.

“Some of the technology used by students in this year’s projects included the creation of Web pages, new software programs, Pod casts, Power Point presentations, and special YouTube and Facebook pages,” said Pulliam. “We could certainly use more IT people acting as mentors and consultants for these students, especially as the senior project program expands to lower grades in the years to come. We will need more mentors available to assist students than ever before.”

Carl Lewis, an assistant professor for information systems and networking at RCC, talked briefly with Coalition members about another opportunity for helping students discover opportunities in Rockingham County. Lewis was seeking businesses willing to utilize students as interns for a new associate’s degree program in networking technology.

“We look at this internship as an opportunity for everyone to gain some benefit,” Lewis said. “The student gets first-hand experience in a field of interest and the company gets some free labor and a look at a potential employee.”

Students involved in the networking internship would be required to work at least four hours per week for 16 weeks. Lewis said the internship was viewed as the capstone project for the student’s instructional process.

“They get some real life, hands-on experience in the field and it provides them with an opportunity to honestly see if that field is something they want to continue in after leaving school,” he said. “Sometimes, a student might decide he just doesn’t really feel comfortable after getting out of the classroom and into the actual workplace.”

Lewis expected no more than 10 students per semester would be involved in the internship program.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Pulliam estimated 1,000 senior projects per year at the current level – each requiring a mentor.

“That means we always have to be looking for new mentors to get involved with the program,” she said. “Sometimes, mentors get a little burned out if they’ve done if several years and we need new ones to take their spot.”

Jon Jones, the technology coordinator for the R.C. Business and Technology Center, closed Thursday’s meeting by reminding coalition members of the importance of showing area students that opportunities are available for them in Rockingham County.

“We all know there’s an increasing interest in IT fields and there is no better way to get the kind of young men and women we will need in the future than to start working with them as students,” Jones said. “We can let them see they don’t have to go to Greensboro, Raleigh or Charlotte to find a good paying career in IT. Rockingham County has a growing IT community and we need to get our young people involved in helping that growth continue.”

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