Maddux NewsWire

The Welch Brothers – It Started with the 2008 Tech Bowl
Judicieux and J’aiChaim Welch are taking advantage of all the CMG activities and programs. Over the past year, they have progressed from having very minimal computer knowledge to developing a Flash Video Game using Adobe software. Both teens are a shining example of self motivation, determination, and focused driven efforts. We know, thier parents, Jim and Cynthia Welch, are very proud of them.

Back in September, 2008, Judicieux and J’aiChaim signed-up to participate in the Tech Bowl. They were motivated by the opportunity to win Toshiba laptop computers. Their team, sponsored by IT Authorities, was the 2008 Tech Bowl winner. They happily accepted the laptops awarded to each member of the team. Win or lose, they had both decided to remain in the CMG Teen Program.

Their efforts in the CMG teen program have proven to be rewarding. Both have recently been earned the Centiport IC3 Certification. This certification tested their basic knowledge of computer hardware, Microsoft Office software, and computer utilities. Judicieux and J’aiChaim each received a refurbished Pentium 4 computer with Microsoft Office software.

The youths have chosen to continue their computer education at CMG. They have now enrolled in the CMG High Achievers Program. Their joint project is to develop a Flash Video Game. CMG staff and possibly other local IT professionals will assist them. They are responsible for the project goal, checkpoints, and programming. The CMG staff will monitor their progress. Judicieux and J’aiChaim have shown that they can accomplish all of their chosen goals. We are certain that they will develop the software in the allotted time.

J’aiChaim and Judicieux Welch
The brothers attend Middleton High School. J’aiChaim is a 9th grader and Judicieux is an 11th grader. They are Computer Technology students. Since Judicieux and J’aiChaim consistently display intelligence and motivation, we predict that they will jointly own a successful computer software development company.

CMG is very proud to contribute to Judicieux and J’aiChaim’s continuing computer education.

Triad Digital Media Hosts Fundraising Breakfast
Triad Digital Media (TDM) hosted a Pancake Breakfast at its corporate offices, on Tuesday, September 2nd, to benefit Computer Mentors Group. It was an awesome success! Ralph and Ernie Webb were not only well-fed, but, also well-served by a group of TDM volunteer “chefs” who were fittingly attired in full traditional style uniforms.

The festivities also included a “50/50” raffle. Raffle tickets were sold with the intent that 50% of the amount would be awarded to CMG as a donation and the other awarded to the raffle winner within TDM. In the spirit of the day, the TDM winner, Markus Lacher, generously donated his 50% to CMG. Thus 100*% of $725.00 was received by CMG!

TDM management also offered two paid days off from work with pay as a second raffle oppertunity. The winner of that raffle was David Blinn with all proceeds also going to CMG.

The over-all event was a huge success. Including the sale of breakfast, the 50/50 raffle, and the two-day off from work raffle, and the Pancake Breakfast, the event raised a total of $1,500. After seeing the enthusiasm and camaraderie of the staff, the TDM CEO Greg Murtagh chipped in an additional $1,000 bringing the total to $2,500. That dollar donation will allow TDM to place a team in the upcoming 2009 CMG Technology Bowl and allow four teens to represent TDM in the competition.

All of us at CMG are looking forward to continuing a very warm relationship with the folks at TMD. A sincere thank you to Triad Digital Media, especially, Mr. Tim Brown, who instigated and orchestrated this event for CMG. “I would be more than happy to talk with other technology leaders that are interested in organizing similar events to benefit the Computer Mentors Group, and will also pass on your press release to some of the IT circles here in the Tampa Bay area.” Said Mr. Brown.

PS: We invite you to our group page on Facebook where you will see many pictures of the breakfast, (and lots of other stuff, too.) And, if you are not already our friend on Facebook, please join our group by searching for “Computer Mentors Group” in the groups section.

2009 Back-To-School Computers For Youth Campaign
The Computer Mentors Group (CMG) successfully held its annual Back- to -School Computers for Kids event, again this year. In the past, we were able to offer the computers free of charge with the help from local contributors. But, because we were not able to find a sponsor this year – (unfortunately, contributions to all charities seem to be “down”) – the event was conducted in partnership with a group of local churches, as a joint fundraiser. We distributed a total of 157 refurbished Pentium 4 computers to help bridge the digital divide. CMG successfully raised funds to support our Youth Computer Certification & Ownership Program.

The computers were offered for a donation of $125 and they included the Microsoft XP Professional operating system, Microsoft Office 2003 Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Publisher), Microsoft training software for MS Office, monitors, keyboards, and mouse. And, this year we also installed 13 titles of educational software owing to CMG’s affiliation with a national educational non-profit organization called Computers For Youth (CFY). Through CFY, CMG can offer engaging educational software titles in math, English, social studies and science, which titles have been identified by CFY software experts and tested by CFY students and CFY’s panel of education executives from school districts across the country.

“Being able to offer these computers with both the Microsoft Software and the educational titles from Computers For Youth has enabled us to present a very substantial learning package. We are very pleased to have such a great response from the churches and their congregants. This ultimately, enables us to continue advancing our mission; (which is) providing computers and access to the resources of the internet to underprivileged families ,” said CMG founder and Executive Director Ralph Smith.

From The Director

Hello Again All,

Once again, I really appreciate you taking to time to read our newsletter. This month, I want to use my column to encourage the support of the upcoming 2009 Technology Bowl and to recruit volunteers for both the bowl and our mentoring program.

There is no better way to give back to the community than to encourage our youngsters to follow in your successful footprints. We currently have three opportunities for you to be able to do that. First, you and your organization can sponsor a Technology Bowl team and encourage a group of teens to learn more about computers and technology. The 4th Annual Technology Bowl will be held at the Brandon campus of Hillsborough Community College on Thursday, October 24th. We encourage you to respond quickly, as the teams will be chosen and the participants will start practicing at the end of this month. Because of a very generous donation from the Hobbs Family Foundation to purchase the prizes, this year, the teens will be the biggest winners. All proceeds for the event will go to support our technology mentoring program. Please call Ernie Webb, Sandra Borr or myself to receive additional information.
Also for the Tech Bowl, we will need about 40 volunteers to assist with the event. Volunteers will be needed as moderators, judges, timekeepers, room coordinators, setup crew, lunch crew, breakdown crew, information and check-in desk crew. If you’ve ever participated in this event you’ll remember that it is very rewarding and quite a bit of fun. If you’re interested, please email me at RSmith@computermentors.org.

A second way to encourage our teens is to volunteer as one of the High Achievers project mentors. The High Achievers Program is a project based mentoring program where IT professionals give back by mentoring a teen through a technology project. The youth have qualified themselves by completing a six-month computer literacy program and have earned an IC3 Certification and a college credit. They, the youth, get to pick a project that can take up to six months to complete that will involve the learning of an IT skill. We then pick mentors from our mentoring pool that process the skill that the youth is seeking to gain in an effort to assist them to prepare a project plan and complete the project. If interested, there are multiple ways to assist this program. Once again, please contact me through phone of email to sign up.

And thirdly, we are currently recruiting career speakers for the fall. Career speakers are asked to provide a 15-30 minute presentation which addresses their personal career path and future career goals. We ask only that they highlight how technology plays a role in their career field. There are opportunities for presenters to speak on multiple occasions as we have a different set of students for each day of the week. This is also an excellent opportunity to meet the CMG teens from the program and to encourage them in their future careers.

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