There's an interesting article in the 3/7/97 edition of the Washington Post that indicates why sales and earnings are taking off at TRNT. Someone has put together a program to train inner-city youths in D.C. to be computer network administrators. When a senior manager of EDS was asked whether these kids could get jobs right out of high school he replied, "I'll fight you for them". The growth in demand for networking services and the shortage of supply of people to do this work are what make TRNT an attractive opportunity.
I've attached the complete text of the article.
Byron
Hire Education at Ballou
A Model Training Program Will Place Students in Technology Companies
By Peter Behr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7 1997; Page G01
The Washington Post
Archie Prioleau, a retired computer executive, has become a matchmaker.
He is hooking up seniors at Washington's Ballou High School, worried about finding jobs after graduation in June, with Northern Virginia technology companies desperate to hire entry-level computer network technicians.
Over the next three months, 23 Ballou seniors will take special courses to prepare them to become network administrators. Suburban Washington technology companies have donated computers for the training and have promised to hire all of the students who pass standard certification exams for the positions, at starting salaries of $25,000 to $30,000.
This is a tiny step in easing both the unemployment challenges facing urban youth and the worker shortage facing technology companies, acknowledges Prioleau, who left International Business Machines Corp. in 1993 after an 18-year career and created a nonprofit foundation to expand the use of technology in schools.
But almost overnight the Ballou project has become a model for a much more extensive program that some community leaders hope to create to prepare D.C. students and residents for technology-based careers.
"We'll be able, at least in that one school, to find out what needs to be done," said Kenneth R. Sparks, executive vice president of the Federal City Council, a D.C. organization calling for new strategies to address the District's economic and management problems.
"It could build on itself pretty quickly if this proves to work," said Sparks, an organizer of the Ballou project.
Such school-community partnerships have the support of Julius W. Becton Jr., who took over control of the District school system in November, and other community leaders.
Alice M. Rivlin, vice chair of the Federal Reserve and an economist with a long-standing involvement in District issues, said she has been meeting informally with District community leaders to study how to expand partnerships such as the Ballou project into a citywide program.
"It is only a concept, not a proposal," Rivlin said. "I'm talking to a lot of people about it and there's a good deal of enthusiasm."
At Ballou, in Southeast Washington, Principal Kenneth Jones has trained his sights much more narrowly: on finding the 23 best students to begin the project. That, "and making sure they pass these classes," Jones said.
His vision is that the students will walk across the stage at graduation and pick up a diploma, a certificate as a network technician and the keys to a desk at a technology company.
Jones said he is confident the students will make it. "To them, computers are fun. They see this as an opportunity to advance themselves. They're looking forward to this," Jones said yesterday.
Latasha Smith, a Ballou senior who started the program this week, said she had been hoping to get into the computer field after graduation. "I really didn't know how to get there," she said. The training answers that question. She understands that the course is "very difficult," she said. "But if you put your mind to it, you can do it."
Amid the uncertainty and frustration of introducing technology into classrooms in ways that improve education, Prioleau has concentrated on the link between computer education and employment.
"The issue isn't just technology," Prioleau said. "It's allowing these children to become self-sufficient. If you take that and go, you'll change some of the results" in inner-city neighborhoods.
What surprises Prioleau is how fast the Ballou project came together -- less than three months.
Prioleau was the starting point. His success in raising more than $350,000 to install computers and a technology curriculum at the Roper School in Washington a year ago gave him credibility with Sparks.
Once Sparks was on board, he recruited Edward H. Bersoff, chairman of BTG Inc., a Vienna-based information technology company and a member of Sparks's executive committee.
The proposal called for seven computers and attachments, about $45,000 worth of equipment. "Bersoff took one look at the list and said, `Piece of cake,' " Sparks said.
"It was just the kind of equipment we sell," Bersoff said. BTG donated and installed the equipment. Sparks arranged with Bell Atlantic Corp. and Potomac Electric Power Co. to upgrade Ballou's electrical circuits and telephone connections.
A few days after his January meeting with Sparks, Bersoff mentioned the venture to George Newstrom, head of Electronic Data Systems Corp.'s federal operations based in Tysons Corner. Like BTG, EDS supplies customers with complex computer systems.
Who would hire the Ballou students? Bersoff wondered. "George said, `I'll fight you for them,' " Bersoff said.
"We're all in such great need for technicians; he was willing to offer all 15 jobs on the spot, given that they have the certification," Bersoff said.
A key to the project is the specificity of the training, Prioleau said.
The students will study a curriculum designed by Novell Inc., an Orem, Utah, company that provides computer networking software. The course is on a par in complexity with high school algebra. "It's not a narrow funnel that nobody gets through," said Dan Burton, Novell's vice president for government relations in Washington.
Novell is donating software and other teaching and student materials. Students who pass a standard Novell exam will be certified as computer network administrators -- a credential recognized throughout business and a steppingstone to higher-paying jobs. Those who pass the first-level exams can keep on going through higher levels of certification, earning double and triple the starting salaries for network technicians, industry officials say.
"It's a curriculum that gets kids jobs," said Burton. Novell has donated materials for the course to 120 high schools nationwide since last year. Ballou will be only the second inner-city high school in the program.
Prioleau's foundation has furnished one instructor. The other comes from the East of the River Community Development Corp., a foundation-supported organization that invests in businesses, schools and housing in Southeast Washington.
The rapid start-up schedule for the program can be credited in part to the ability of principals such as Jones to act on opportunities without a lengthy review by higher-ups, Prioleau said.
"The budget won't support what we need to have done," Jones said. In addition to hosting Prioleau's project, Jones has signed up the Immigration and Naturalization Service as a Ballou sponsor and the INS has donated 150 computers and technical assistance to the school. "It's one of the things administrators have to do," Jones said.
The close association of Northern Virginia technology executives such as Bersoff and Newstrom allowed them to sign up for the project after just one short conversation, Bersoff said.
But the strongest push has come from Prioleau, said Helena Jones, assistant D.C. superintendent for elementary and middle schools. "Sometimes you're leery when people come in and say, `I have something to give you.' Sooner or later they say, `Now, this is what I want.' With Archie, I'm still waiting. It isn't that way with him."
@CAPTION: Archie Prioleau left IBM after 18 years to start a nonprofit foundation to expand the use of technology in schools.
@CAPTION: Instructor Bruce O'Neal helps Ballou students Carletta Tyree, left, and Latasha Smith with the new computers. Smith understands the program is "very difficult."
@CAPTION: Student Kevin Martin, left, watches instructor Kevin Carpenter demonstrate new desktop-mounted computer screen.
c Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company |
