Apply for the Bits & Bytes 2012 Planning Committee by 10/31

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:50:59 -0400

Bits & Bytes is an annual outreach program sponsored by CWIT and Northrop Grumman which invites ~30 high school junior girls to UMBC for an overnight stay and design competition. The next event will be held over President's Day weekend on February 19 & 20, 2012. Visit www.cwit.umbc.edu/hs/bitsbytes or see attached flyer for more information.

ALL STUDENTS are invited to apply! Serving on a planning committee for an event of this scale is a great professional development opportunity and will help you gain unique skills to add to your resume. Also...it will be fun!

In previous years we have received anywhere from 60-90 applications form high school girls wanting to participate, and we have been able to have major impacts on the lives of young women through the program. Data collected from pre- and post-event evaluations of the 2011 Bits and Bytes program participants show the program’s impact:

enthusiasm for the field of engineering or IT = 82% before, 100% after.

knowledge about opportunities available in IT or engineering = 24% before, 88% after.

confidence about entering an engineering or IT career = 71% before, 94% after.

knowledge of support for women in engineering or IT = 30% before, 88% after.

confidence about fitting into the college environment = 70% before, 100% after.

Here is a quote from one of the B&B 2011 participants: "The competition...made me more confident about aspects of the Engineering field and my future potential. This program also made me able to visualize myself as an actual college student, still the UMBC students were approachable and ‘real’ with us.”

If you are interested in being on the committee, please complete the application here: http://goo.gl/93LRi

Serving on the committee will require attendance at planning committee meetings. Most of the committee meetings will be on-campus in January during winter break, but there will be 1-2 planned for the end of the Fall semester and 1-2 planned for the beginning of the Spring semester before the event in February. Specific meeting dates will be scheduled at times convenient for everyone once the committee has been formed.

Serving on the committee also requires that you are available after about 3pm on Sunday, February 19th, as well as between your classes until about 6pm on Monday, February 20th to assist with program implementation.

Submit your application by October 31st for best consideration. Email kglasser@umbc.edu with any questions.