“I’m thrilled to see so many of you here today, especially young ladies,” said Sheila Appel, IBM’s Director of Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. “How many of you think about video games?”
An entire classroom of Poughkeepsie high school students raised their hands.
“How many of you think about video games as careers?” she continued.
One hand went up.
Each year hundreds of IBM employees across the Mid-Hudson Valley participate in Engineers Week – an annual worldwide event focused on making engineering a stronger, more diverse profession.
IBM visited Poughkeepsie High School this past week to promote math and science – particularly among the school’s Latino population.
“We’re complementing what we are doing through our outreach this year by focusing on diverse populations,” said Appel, “We need more women to influence our products.”
Once a month, IBM employee Fernando Gaurin, along with his coworker Walter Manrique, work with Poughkeepsie High School students through IBM’s Partners in Education program (PIE). On Feb. 27, they demonstrated “PowerUp,” a 3-D Internet engineering game created by IBM.
PowerUp is a gaming adventure that focuses on energy, diversity and engineering. The game’s objective is to generate clean energy – while racing to save the planet from ecological disaster. PowerUp is IBM’s legacy contribution to Engineers Week, and IBM volunteers will introduce the game and the associated classroom lesson plans to interested schools for use throughout the year.
“The idea is to go out to schools and talk to kids. We go to high schools, middle schools and elementary schools just to say, ‘Hey you’re doing a good job. Get involved in math and science, it can be fun.’ If we can pique their interest, it’s great,” said Doug Archer, a 40-year IBM employee.
Archer is the EWeek coordinator for the Poughkeepsie site. He became involved with EWeek more than a decade ago, when he visited his home school district, Carmel.
“I did it for my kids, I wanted to give back to them. They had no idea what I did when they were growing up,” he said.
IBM has been an active supporter of EWeek since 1990, serving as the lead corporate sponsor in 1992 and 2001. For 2008, IBM is, once again, the lead corporate sponsor, with CEO Sam Palmisano serving as honorary chair. Palmisano is the third executive to serve as chairperson.
Each year volunteers try to reach as many school districts as they can. Locally, IBM employees will visit schools in Poughkeepsie, Arlington, Beacon, Wappingers, Rhinebeck, Millbrook, Hyde Park, Spackenkill, Red Hook, Pawling and Dover. They will also visit schools in Orange, Ulster and Putnam counties.
Last year more than 625 Mid-Hudson Valley employee volunteers from the East Fishkill and Poughkeepsie IBM sites visited 32,000 students in the community, sharing their enthusiasm, knowledge and experiences in engineering and technology with students through fun and interactive classroom activities. Worldwide, more than 4,800 volunteers reached over 200,000 students.
“It’s a great program,” said Poughkeepsie High School senior Joanna Nuñez. “IBM gives a lot of experience to students who may not have had the opportunity to get hands on computer experience.”