Who's the best Dancer at the IT Academy?

During Community Hour on April 10th, we had us a dance competition. Ooh dang! We wanted an answer to the biggest question of this Spring: Who is the best dancer at the IT Academy!?










With Pacal Bayley as the DJ, and AJ Daughtry Krill as the MC, the stage was set for some excellent dancing and fun for the last hour of our April 10th ITA session. Although the students were a bit stiff and shy at first, AJ managed to get some of the students involved, whether dancing or standing around, and participating in ways they were comfortable.

Michelle McKiernan was having a blast as well as the unofficial cheerleader for dancing!

This was all well and good for the warm-up, but then the real competition was announced: "I need some volunteers," was all AJ had to say before those brave souls marched forth to the front of the room, while everyone else stayed at their chairs and wiggled to the beat.


Terrence and Illa showed off with some killer moves, as part of the competition.










 








At one point, Chris, one of the lab instructors, tried to teach us how to do a little dance. We should have him do that more often :) Chris also made through the final dance-off, as one of the three finalists. Chris ended up taking third place, just barely having more applause than Terrence and Illa.











Michelle probably would have placed as well, if it weren't for the fact that she was dancing up a storm over by the cool air coming in at the back of the room.






















In the end, we had to break a tie through a FINAL dance-off between the twins (Noah and Thor) and Eddie. Although the twins put up a good dance, they couldn’t stand up to Eddie’s poppin’ and lockin’.

It was a fun event; the students seemed to enjoy it for the most part. Even if they were too shy to get up and dance, they joined in by cheering and creating a positive environment.

And now we have our definitive answer... Eddie (going into his Senior year of high school next Fall) is the very BEST DANCER in the IT ACADEMY!

2009 Holiday Luncheon

Not to irk any former ITA students, but at one point a very prominent staff member of ITA stated "that was the best ITA Holiday Luncheon ever!" Over 400 attendees registered beforehand, the party was held at the Alliant Energy Center, as ITA was too large for a UW venue. It was a very energetic Saturday afternoon, to say the least!

We kicked off the morning of the day in the labs at Computer Science. A few test retakes, and (eventually) rehearsals of the skits and performances ensued. As it had gone the last session, the students took charge of the performances, working it out in the hallway and where they could find space, and calling their own shots. The instructors were able to help students to catch up on things and finish before the semester ended.

After about an hour, we all climbed on a big ol' yellow school bus to head over to the event.

Paul, a trained actor, first led the Juniors though a cool-down/warm-up relaxation gig. Kevin decided he could use a stretch as well, so he joined in, even though he wouldn't be performing. Calm and cool, until about 12:15, the Juniors ran through rehearsals, which improv kept lively each iteration. 


The Seniors rehearsed some more out in the main lobby of the Banquet room, as anyone else presenting continued to find a somewhat quiet place, and continued to make small edits and additions to their presentations.

The luncheon itself kicked off by Bronson and his younger brother, Preston, playing an unbelievable original piece on classical guitars. 


Next, everyone grabbed some lunch while dual projectors showed the lovely Freshman/Sophomore Photoshop/Illustrator pieces. 


The Seniors then presented their "Senior Thesis", with great stuff from educational flash games to websites and marketing designs for non-profits. 

The Juniors then presented -- it was the stuff of legend. An Excel Game competition, with half the class rooting for "Noah" the Jock and the others for "Terrence the Terrible Tigrr" the Nerd. 

Eddie was the sports announcer, and some excellent lines included "great weather out there folks, for software sports fans, not too chilly, clear skies." AJ reffed keeping things clean. 


The Terrible Tigrr won, declaring he was taking his entire team to wallgreens with the $5,000 dollar prize. Noah said he went out there and gave 100%, but his competition put up an excellent game. 

Maya concluded, letting the audience know the Excel unit isn't all about acting, but we actually learn some spreadsheet software. 


The Luncheon continued with an amazing song from Carrie, done in sign language. She had asked to perform at the last luncheon and has spent the past year preparing. It was flawless and awe-inspiring.  Lastly, the keynote speaker, Police Chief Noble Wray. 

Bronson and Preston finished things off with another mind-blowing guitar piece, and the day was won. 


Thank you to all staff, parents, students, and guests for making this the best luncheon ever for ITA! This set a new standard for our gatherings!

Composed by: Kevin Doran | Edited and Posted by: A.J. Daughtry Krill

Want to read more about this year's luncheon?

Click here to read DoIT's CIO Ron Kraemer's account.

ITA's 8th Annual Summer Picnic

On 8.13.2009 we went to the Henry Vilas Park and Zoo for the annual ITA picnic! There was lots of food, fun and friends!

In the 1st annual kickball game the Sophomores beat the Freshmen 1-7…but the Freshmen made a great comeback to win the dodge ball game! Someone brought the cutest little cupcakes, and ALL the food was delicious.

 

Most people eventually made it into the zoo - we went in with Jacob, Kim, David, and Jose. We saw Black Bears, Brown Bears, Lions, Tigers, [OH MY!!]. We went into the Birdhouse, the Herpetarium, and the Monkey House. The monkeys were wonderfully furry and there was a chimp with his foot randomly on the window. It was hilarious. And Clara took the coolest ever picture of a tiger. It looked like it was trying to eat her. Which it probably was.

The poor polar bear was dying (not literally), because it was so hot. And the badger was really hyper. 

Note: Clara is the one who notices these weird things :D

The goats were weird and crazy about food. Speaking of giving food to animals, we fed the ducks  (before we realized we shouldn't do that) and ended up with a very hugely enormous flock of ducks/geese clamoring for food. It was scary.

There were these really pretty birds...and huge snakes. HUGE. SNAKES. O.O Pythons and anacondas. And there were huge turtles too, but they weren't as freaky as the snakes. HUGE. SNAKES. O.O

But anyways. It was pretty cool. But we returned to the CS building the next day to get back to basements and computer projects for the Summer Recognition Lunch. Bye!

                                                                       -Clara and Aubrey, ITA Students
                                                                                 [Edited by A.J.]

A Student's Reflection on How a Computer Works...

In the first few days of ITA camp, I've learned a lot about computers that I never knew before. For example we learned all about the hardware and operating systems. The hardware has lots of different parts like the monitor, motherboard, CPU, RAM, CD-ROM Drive, Hard Drive, Keyboard and Mouse. Some of the parts of the hardware I was familiar with like the monitor, CD-ROM Drive, key board and mouse.

The CPU (Central Processing Unit) is one of the parts I didn't know much about. I learned that it is responsible for handling all instructions and calculation it receives from other hardware components in the computer and software programs running on the computer.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is the place in a computer where the operating system, programs, and data are kept so that they can be quickly reached by the computer's processor. However, the data in RAM stays there only as long as your computer is running. When you turn the computer off, RAM loses its data. When you turn your computer on again, your operating system and other files are once again loaded into RAM. RAM can be compared to a person's short-term memory and the hard disk to the long-term memory. For example in the summer time you don't see some people from school, and then when u go back and you see them, it takes you a few seconds to remember their name and that's when your long-term memory comes back to your short-term memory.

A Hard Disk (Hard Disk Drive) is your computer's main storage device. It is where you would normally keep your operating system, programs and files.

UNIX is an operating system. Operating systems consist of a kernel and some system programs. The kernel is the heart of the operating system. It keeps track of files on the disk, starts programs and runs them, assigns memory and other resources to other processes. The operating system provides an interface to these parts using what is referred to as "drivers".

A driver is software which understands the operation of the device it interfaces with, such as a printer, video card, sound card or CD ROM drive. It translates commands from the operating system or user into commands understood by the component computer part it interfaces with. It also translates responses from the component back to responses that can be understood by the operating system, user.

I'm glad I got to learn about all the different parts and their duties, because now if any thing ever goes wrong with my computer, I know more about what to check for the problem and what to fix. It was really cool how they compared the system and parts to real life it made it so much easier to understand!

BY A STUDENT OF THE CLASS OF 2011

"Things I've Learned" By Eileen

Well,

We were taught the parts of a computer and where they connect to on the motherboard(the control room of the computer); things like the cpu and the RAM connect to the north bridge and the graphics card, the PCI and the IDE connect to the south bridge. The north bridge has the highest priority and everything has to go through there in order to reach the CPU and be registered.

We also learned about definitions of parts; the RAM is the temporary memory of the computer, it can be replaced if faulty and it is measured in bytes. The CPU is like the translator of the computer, it takes your commands (like what you type on a keyboard), changes it into binary (the code that computers use), and the tells that to the parts like the graphics card so that you can see what you typed on your screen.

Then we learned about how the parts are related; the RAM is similar to, but different from the hard drive in the sense that they are both memory storing devices, but the hard drive holds all of the information forever until you purposely delete it. Even if you shut down your computer and move the hard drive to another computer, all of the files will still be stored on it. The RAM loses all of it's information when you unplug the computer or remove the RAM itself.

There were a bunch of metaphors for the different computer parts, some that were helpful and some that were pretty lame. One of the better ones was that the RAM is like clothing in the sense that it's readily available and you are always wearing it, but if you want to change it you have to go back home (or to the motherboard).

I think that what we've learned about Linux will be helpful because although you can't use familiar programs like Microsoft office and Adobe, it's a heck of a lot neater looking. In addition it's easier to install than windows and free to boot (haha, pun). Also, if you're someone who has a knack for coding, you can edit Linux because it's open source and that way problems that may be commonly faced, but not always solved, can be fixed. Linux is always being updated so problems are constantly being weeded out. Besides, I think that there is a nice warm feeling that comes with working on something that is controlled by the community as opposed to a corporation.

What's most confusing are the technicalities. I can grasp what you do with these programs and hardware knowledge and I understand the basics (components, what they do), but I have trouble with understanding code and what not. Not to mention that everything goes so fast. It always has. I suppose that it is just something that I am going to need to get used to, but it's difficult. So much info is being fed to us in such a short amount of time (and we have no idea who half of the people who feed us this info are).

I have to say that personally, I am more creatively inclined and its hard for me to sit through all of these technical lessons. I prefer to just mess around and design neat stuff, not follow a bunch of mathematical steps to achieve the expected result.

ITA Evening on the Terrace

While working in the stuffy office, we decided that work and air-conditioning are a little more than they're cracked up to be!

Summertime . . . and living is . . . not always easy here at ITA! Between summer camps, unit revamp and prep, Panda development, hiring new instructors, and not to mention summer school, we've been pretty swamped here through the month of June. So we decided it was high time to take a night off and go have some fun!

And the Terrace seemed like the place to do it! The warm evening air blowing in off the lake, a live bluegrass band, and shady trees overhanging the quintessentially union colored metal chairs, created a perfect atmosphere for just hangin' and having some good conversation.

One characteristic of our team definitely stands out - we're all so amazingly different! Each and all of us have stories, fascinating life experiences to share with one another. Our night on the Terrace finally gave us a time to sit down with one another and hear about those awesome experiences - where we've been, what we're doing, and where we're going. We often say that, "each person has something special to contribute" but it's important to really live that out and experience that together, discovering the unique experiences and talents of our fellow teammates.

Practice what we preach!

One of these mornings

You're going to rise up singing
Then you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky

Summertime . . . and the livin' is eeaasssyyyyyyy . . .

Showcase 2009 - Tuesday, May 12, 2009

ITA students learn a lot in the classroom, whether it be college preparatory study skills or technological capabilities. But there’s only so much we as instructors can teach them -- so much of learning comes by experience. The annual ITA Showcase is one way students learn by experiencing something we instructors are blessed with far more often -- teaching.

Every year, ITA staff chooses a theme on which students develop a project presentation. This year our theme was ‘Inventing Change’: students focused on creating an invention idea which would in some way bring more peace and justice to the world. Students, though not by any means required to create the actual invention, could use any of the programs available through ITA to develop their idea in a visual presentation. The culmination of this experience is a journey to local elementary schools to ‘showcase’ the products of our students’ minds.

Planning for the showcase begins months in advance, as the instructors meet to discuss possible themes. This year, we threw around many different possibilities before settling on the ‘Inventing Change’ theme. We wanted something that would get the students thinking in more global terms of world problems and issues. After choosing the theme, we put together a presentation, explaining the requirements of the presentation and the age level to which the students would be presenting.

Showcase work started at different times for each of the different classes – many students were still working on their final Behind the Wheel Projects when we presented the Showcase. Once they had finished their regular class requirements, they were ready to start on the next task . . .


After much head scratching, group consulting, and idea bouncing, the presentations started to take shape. Some were products of sudden flashes of inspiration; others collected more slowly. Eventually, each student had their idea and at least a rough presentation. These we saved on our systems for a preliminary presentation just amongst us ITA students and staff during the last Saturday session. This presentation was important as not every student was able to make it to the actual Showcase, since attending requires missing a day of school.

The presentation was a great way to end our ITA session time this year, and was very useful as some presentation ran into technical difficulties. We could all enjoy the products of one another’s work and troubleshoot for the actual event.

The day began with a morning breakfast all together at the Computer Science building – we wanted to make sure that, even though our students had to wake up a bit early, they at least had gotten breakfast! After a short bus ride, we arrived at Emerson Elementary. We were given a nice-sized auditorium to set up our nineteen projects. Each student or group of students set up a computer, facing outward, ready for an audience. Those with sound also had headphones. Set up took very little time and soon we had our first batch of kids meandering through the doors.

This being the first year we went to elementary schools instead of middle schools, I know there was some concern about the age difference. Perhaps the younger students would need more stimulation than just the projects to keep them interested. In the end, however, we discovered that the younger children (first though third graders) seemed to be our most attentive audience! Going around from station to station fascinated them, certainly because of the technology but their interest was probably mostly captivated by the big, cool high school-ers behind the technology! They listened attentively as our ITA students explained, encouraged, ahem, specific votes, and even grooved to the music of their projects!

We really saw our students grow exponentially through the process. They seem to mature in a few instants; as soon as younger, shorter miniatures appeared in the room, the students seemed to gain a grasp of the responsibility they have as mentors of a younger generation. They interacted comfortably and smoothly, maintaining a patient attitude of fun.

Aside from challenging our own students, the showcase is also meant to raise awareness, amongst younger students and teachers, of ITA and the opportunities offered through our programs. As the elementary kids came in, we had ITA student greeters sharing about the program, its purpose and practice. At the end, AJ and others concluded, stressing the importance of keeping up grades and being a good student in order to experience and learn the same things they saw these cool high school-ers experiencing and learning! Hopefully, this presentation planted seeds and to prepare these students for academic success.


The afternoon was very similar, as we loaded the bus and headed off for Marquette Elementary. I was encouraged by how much the students changed even throughout the course of the day – their presentations the second time through grew clearer and more impassioned. The elementary students were very receptive – many of them started asking when the inventions our students were presenting would be available to the public! Hmm , not for a couple of years . . .

Overall, the day was a complete success!
The elementary school kids were engaged and excited about the projects, our students were growing through teaching and mentoring, and ITA’s overall message of academic stewardship and the importance of effort reached new corners of the earth. We brought a little more peace and justice to the world.