NEW IT Alliance-January Tech Upload

 

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NEW Digital News

This time of year tends to be quiet in the NEW IT Alliance, giving us time to reflect, recharge, and catch our breath. We hope you were also able to take some time over the Holidays to enjoy yourself.

We recently launched the Explore Digital Careers video series. These videos feature local IT professionals from throughout Northeast Wisconsin representing a large number of our member companies. These brave souls stepped outside of their normal roles to volunteer as actors for the day to talk about their work in IT – and what they love working and living in Northeast Wisconsin. We expect these videos will help us attract more people to discover Northeast Wisconsin as well as help students discover IT as a great career path.

In December, we launched the first three videos on our YouTube Channel, as well as the  Explore Digital Careers page on our website:

Two of the videos are general, showcasing what people in IT do, and how IT is a creative field impacting everything from healthcare to manufacturing.

https://youtu.be/taJm_rgnVjo

The third video is the first of a series featuring an individual. In this one, Jes Borland from Microsoft shares her story about how she went from wanting to be a teacher to becoming a Microsoft Field Engineer.

We plan to launch a new video each month. Our January video, coming next week, will feature Roger Yang, a Software Quality Analyst from Nsight.

It took a whole crew to create the videos. A huge thanks to all the volunteers who participated in front of the camera. You make IT in Northeast Wisconsin shine!

Also special thanks to Stellar Blue for the videography, Kathi Seifert for the idea, and for directing, as well as Jack Ekins for being our talent coach and pumping up the energy level of all the participants.

NEW Connect IT Videos

THANK YOU Cellcom for producing two great videos highlighting our NEW Connect IT event at Lambeau Field in November. These are also on our YouTube Channel.

Local business leaders talk about the importance of IT and the initiatives the NEW IT Alliance is driving.

 

Highlights college students talking about why IT is important and why they are excited about their chosen career path.

Help us get the word out, and share all our videos with others around Northeast Wisconsin – companies who may wish to get involved, students and their parents who are exploring career pathways. Feel free to embed on your website and share on social media.

Upcoming Event: NEW CS Advisory Board

Open to K12, Higher Ed and business leaders. Come join the conversation about developing a digital ecosystem in Northeast Wisconsin.

Date: January 24 from 2-4 pm.

New location: Fox Valley Technical College main campus, room HS114AB

More Details and Register

Regional News

The “S” in STEM does not mean “Scary”

Early this November, the Girl Scouts of the Western Great Lakes Council hosted a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) event to highlight a series of new badges released this past summer. This science fair themed event was a series of 12 different booths. Each booth focused on an activity directly from the STEM badges the girls could work toward within their troop.

Many people think of STEM as expensive, highly technical, and complicated. This event was designed to help people better understand these statements are not entirely true. The “S” in STEM does not mean “Scary”. Topics such as: Space, Programming, Cyber Security, Engineering, and Robotics activities were highlighted. Paper, markers, tape, and items from the recycling bin were used for the different activities to help show how cost effective these projects are. Finally, the concepts were shown in a way that is understandable to all ages and abilities.

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Shawano County Girls Who Code Club

The first Shawano County Girls Who Code Club ran for 12 weeks from September through December of 2018. The club was facilitated by Naome Etori and Pauline Forrest and had one student “Lily” who was spoiled with so much technical information and feedback from both facilitators and the Girls Who Code agenda.
 
Lily was energetic and creative when learning coding fundamentals and design. The project selected used the SCRATCH platform to create 3 “challenge” courses with questions and matching. Most of all, the courses all included squirrels which seemed to make Lily happy.
 
Besides learning technology, Girls Who Code shares information about women in technology.
Learn More about Girls Who Code

Stellar Blue's Nicole Hurd Teaches Local Youths about the Future of Technology

Stellar Blue Technologies, a full-service digital marketing firm based out of Neenah, WI, prides itself on not only providing it’s clientele the means and expertise to achieve their digital marketing goals but also works hard to advance the technology industry as a whole in Northeastern Wisconsin. As a major player in multiple business development boards and committees in the area, the company is continually seeking opportunities to help grow and nurture the businesses, people and communities of the Fox Valley area. Their culture encourages all employees to participate in this vision and provides them ample opportunites to get involved.

 

This past year, Nicole Hurd, project strategist and analytics lead with Stellar Blue, was able to take advantage of this chance to give back, and opted to share her marketing expertise with the next generation of future business leaders and professionals! Nicole volunteered multiple times throughout 2018 in a number of area school districts, including Neenah High School, Kimberly High School, and New London High School. The time spent in these classrooms provided a chance for young people to explore different marketing and entrepreneurial avenues they might be interested in, get exposure to a variety of topics, strategies, and business concepts while participating in a hands-on learning environment.

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$600 million available in a new Broadband Grant/Loan Program

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development is offering up to $600 million in loans and grants to help build broadband infrastructure in rural America.

Telecommunications companies, rural electric cooperatives and utilities, internet service providers and municipalities may apply for funding through USDA’s new ReConnect Program to connect rural areas that currently have insufficient broadband service.

This is a great opportunity to help ensure local schools have access to broadband to help students prepare for a future which is more and more reliant upon digital skills.

Informational webinars will be held throughout the spring.

Learn More