The event, titled “We Are IT,” was part of a statewide initiative involving 18 colleges and universities working together for the purpose of providing female students with a broad-based introduction to information technology applications and the array of rapidly-growing career opportunities.

For Franciss Lockett of Toledo, the opportunity to participate in a variety of information technology educational activities meant a day of “cool” exploration on computers.

“I really like to learn about technology and enjoy experimenting with new things on the computer,” said Lockett, an eighth grade student at Leverette Junior High School. “I want to become a teacher someday and really feel it’s important to incorporate technology into education.”

Throughout the event, conference attendees had the opportunity to explore a wide variety of career paths and vocations in information technology, including 3-D animation using the ALICE Programming Language, Second Life, ePortfolios (Findlay-area Campus), wikis and blogs (Findlay-area Campus), Microsoft Office 2007 (Toledo-area Campus), personal web page design (Toledo-area Campus), Photoshop skills (Toledo-area Campus), computer forensics (Toledo-area Campus), computer diagnostics (Toledo-area Campus), and computer security (Toledo-area Campus).

In addition to the lecture portion of each session, the students were given a project to complete in order to further learn the concepts being taught. Sessions were taught by various members of Owens’ information technology and electronics faculty and staff, among others.

Students had time during lunch to meet individuals from local businesses and ask them questions concerning their professions; also, they received information on how to go about choosing a career within information technology after completing their education.

Among the area schools that attended “We Are IT” were: Carey High School, Central Middle School (Findlay City Schools), Clay High School, Continental High School, Donnell Middle School (Findlay City Schools), Eastwood Middle School, Gateway Middle School (Maumee City Schools), Glenwood Middle School (Findlay City Schools), Leverette Junior High School (Toledo Public Schools), Libbey High School, Rogers High School and Woodward High School.

Other academic institutions that participated in the statewide initiative included: Edison State Community College, University of Akron, Columbus State Community College, Hocking College, Kent State University, Lakeland Community College, North Central State College, Northwest State Community College, Sinclair Community College and Youngstown State University, among others.