From Jay Collier, Program Director, 6/14/2013
I'm pleased to report on our progress during the past three months. I've met with over 55 volunteers, advisors, educators, students, and other constituents and the overwhelming majority have confirmed their commitment to Project>Login, and their desire to working actively with us to meet and surpass our goal.
To thank our dedicated volunteers, we held a reception with more than 30 friends on June 5 at WEX, hosted by Mike Dubyak. In addition to rekindling professional connections, Mike and Tanna Clews presented certificates of appreciation to George Hogan, Pam Joy, Marcia Leander, Andrea Maker, and Tracy St. Pierre.
I am excited about the continuing and new initiatives that we're stewarding and growing, and the collaborative impact that I am already seeing as a result of our work together. Thank you for your continuing support!
We will be continuing and expanding four successful initiatives into the 2013-14 academic year.
We are continuously improving our website, with over 20 improvements already completed. Over 1,100 people visited our website 1,800+ times between April 15 and June 14, with over 7,000 page views.
460 fans have already liked our Facebook page, with our posts regularly reaching 200-400 people. Our fans themselves have over 105,000 friends, which amplifies our reach.
Our next phase will include a career awareness campaign, led by volunteer/advisor Pam Joy (WEX).
The beta test of the new student success survey was distributed to all UMS computing and IT students in May following an initial cycle of faculty outreach, survey design, institutional review, and data gathering.
Rosa Redonnett (UMS) and Bonnie Stearns (USM) will lead the second year of this initiative. Faculty will be invited to comment on the survey questions, and a refined survey will be distributed in the fall. Results will help UMS determine which academic support improvements will most benefit student success.
20 to 80 students and 7 to 15 employers attended each of 5 receptions at Augusta, Farmington, Fort Kent, Orono, and Portland.
Liz Rensenbrink (Tyler Technologies) will lead this initiative into a second year of receptions starting in October/ November, when many companies begin recruiting internships for next summer.
We developed and are maintaining a permanent, year-round list of companies that offered 60 computing and IT internship positions in 2013: <http://projectlogin.com/explore-internships>. We will promote this listing to student, encouraging them to contact company representatives throughout the year.
Andrea Roma (UNUM) will lead this working group into year two, reaching out to identify additional internships, and developing a guide for professionals and students who are new to internships.
We have expanded our website to include resource sharing, event promotion, and volunteer collaboration features at <http://connect.projectlogin.org/>.
Morgan Cuthbert (Yarmouth Middle School) will be leading the year two team, supporting a statewide effort to gather, organize, and distribute links to online resources that will help our students discover, explore, and pursue pathways to the profession.
We are reaching out to every private and community college offering computing and IT degrees to seek: commitments to the overall goal of doubling number of C/IT graduates in 4 years; enrollment, retention, and graduation data; active participation in working groups; and Educate Maine sponsorship.
Outreach is already initiated with Southern Maine CC, York County CC, and Thomas College. Upcoming: Husson, Eastern Maine CC, Northern Maine CC, Bowdoin, and Colby.
We provided a letter of support for a new 2+2 degree program at USM, SMCC, CMCC, and YCCC.
Will provide a letter of support for the Maine Community College System's application for a federal grant to support new certificate and associates degree programs in IT.
We are developing four new initiatives to increase the number of qualified high school students and adult learners applying for admission to CS/IT/CE programs. We will test prototypes with high school and adult learners to make sure our approach and materials resonate for those constituencies.
Career Awareness Campaign - A marketing and outreach campaign to help learners determine if they can “see themselves” in these career clusters. Lead volunteer: Pam Joy (WEX).
Professional Pathways – A clear model of multiple pathways and supports leading to federally-recognized career clusters, from entry level to advanced. Lead volunteer: Glenn Wilson (USM).
Statewide Info Tech Event – Feasibility study for an event to increase in-person connections between professionals, students, and educators. Lead volunteer: Jim Smith (State of Maine).
Professional Speakers Program – Connecting professionals, students, and educators at colleges, high schools, and clubs, virtually and in person. Lead volunteer: Marcia Leander (UNUM).
Community Collaboration Projects – Promoting and supporting short-term projects that engage professionals, college students, high school students, families, and educators.
With your help, we will grow the network of computing and information technology to meet the needs of our IT-enabled organizations statewide. Thank you for your assistance!
MLTI Student Conference (1,100 middle and high school students), USM/JMG Career Expo (Portland/ Deering high school juniors), Maine Technology User Group annual conference
Frank Apunn (Thomas), Lance Berbarian (IDEXX) Ron Cantor (SMCC), Manny Caulk (Portland Public Schools), Chris Claudio (WinxNet), Tim Crowley (NMCC), Paula Gagnon SP (YCCC), Joe Kumiszcza (TechMaine), Laurie LaChance (Thomas College), Mark Ouelette (Mobilize Maine), Helen Pelletier (MCCS), Victoria Reed (Systems Engineering), Janet Sortor (SMCC), John Spritz (Growing Portland), Marge Stockford (MTUG), Eric Tracy (UNUM), Dick Wilkins (Thomas)
Ray Albert (UMFK), Dakotah Atchinson (GMRI), David Bantz (UM), Chris Bennett (UMF), David Briggs (USM), Ron Cantor (SMCC), Greg Cavanaugh (USM), Lisa Cramm (EMHS), Morgan Cuthbert (Yarmouth Public Schools), Phil Dickens (UM), Corky Ellis (Kepware), Pam Joy (WEX), George Hogan (WEX), Don Hummels (UM), Dana Humphrey (UM), Mark Rajotte (Goodwill), George Markowski (UM), Ed McKersie (ProSearch), Marcia Leander (UNUM), Harlan Onsrud (UM), Amertah Perman (USM), Rosa Redonnett (UMS), Liz Rensenbrink (Tyler Technologies), Andrea Roma (UNUM), Kelly Samson-Rickert (State of Maine), Bruce Segee (UM), Jim Smith (State of Maine), Bonnie Stearns (USM), Joe Szakas (UMA), Dick Thompson (UMS), Eric Tracy (UNUM), Charlie Welty (USM), Glenn Wilson (USM)
