ITSA LAUNCHES projectTECHNOPOLIS.org to build San Antonio's Cyber Infrastructure

SAN ANTONIO (May 28, 2003) -San Antonios Information Technology and Security Academy (ITSA) announced it has launched Project Technopolis, an innovative web-based approach to student recruitment and development that is made possible through the support of 17 area employers and 12 area non-profits, which serve as partners in the project.

Project Technopolis, supported through the web site projectTECHNOPOLIS.ORG, is a coordinated program strategy designed to recruit Bexar County and area high school juniors (Class of 2005) into the ITSA program (Fall 2003) and raise the overall profile of ITSA in the community. The project provides students with access to area high tech employers offering paid summer internships, supports ITSAs digital community service" program for area non-profits and helps to recruit community-based senior projects.

ITSA is a Community Partnership hosted by the Alamo Community College District that provides high school juniors and seniors with advanced education, work experience, and job opportunities in the high-growth information technology and network security industries. Upon high school graduation, ITSA students receive 30 hours of college credit. The deadline for admissions applications is August 1, 2003. Applications are available on the web at projectTECHNOPOLIS.org or by contacting Mrs. Barerra at 210-932-5756 or mbarerra@accd.edu.

As part of its Project Technopolis launch, ITSA announced a partnership with United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County to place ITSA students at area non-profits to perform digital community service. This is an exciting opportunity for non-profits and ITSA students in the San Antonio area", said Jose Contreras of United Way. Challenged by a combination of decreased revenues and increasing demands, many charitable organizations channel their few funds into direct services and put off investments in technological infrastructure. ITSAs digital community service effort is a marvelous gift that will help build area non-profit technology infrastructure and ITSA student skill."

All ITSA students placed in summer internships will have completed college classes in fundamentals of Information Technology, PC building and maintenance, Networking and Programming. Students are prepared for internships in basic web design, help desk support, basic Microsoft systems administration, scripting, PC installation and repair, network cabling and basic network configuration and installation. All students have maintained high averages taking dual credit college classes from college instructors.

Area employers such as Rackspace Managed Hosting are also supporting ITSA's Project Technopolis. "ITSA is the ideal organization to build tech expertise in our local talent base and allows Rackspace to give back to the San Antonio community from which we hire our employees. We plan to offer three paid internships to ITSA students this summer to help them apply their skills in a real-world global technology environment," said Jeff Woodson, Director of Data Center Operations at Rackspace Managed Hosting. The company also donated a leased web server for one year with an additional two-year option to ITSA to use in developing senior student projects.

ITSA is a unique and innovative partnership of 18 local school districts, a number of technology employers, the Alamo Community College District (ACCD), the City of San Antonio, the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at UTSA, Alamo Workforce Development, the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, Greater Kelly Development Authority, Air Intelligence Agency, and the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI). ITSA is modeled after the successful Alamo Area Aerospace Academy. During the 2002-2003 academic year, there are 78 juniors in the ITSA inaugural class.

ITSAs Project Technopolis is also staging the development of senior projects. Telegenesis.com, a local Internet technologies firm donated all of the design services for projectTECHNOPOLIS.org, is hosting a summer intern and is deploying a portal development framework to Rackspaces server farm. We are excited about the opportunity to grow our technology base from within the city," said Russell Bellamy, Telegenesis, CEO. We believe that constructivist, hands-on projects are the best way to learn. Our ITSA summer intern, Luke Robison will lay the ground work for senior projects to continue this focus on serving the real world 'digital needs of the San Antonio community."

"San Antonio's ITSA program represents a national model of success for how a city meets the education and employment needs of students, families, industry, government and academia in a rapidly changing world," said Joe Sanchez, Industry co-chair and senior advisor at the Air Intelligence Agency. He adds, "ITSA is part of San Antonio's nationally recognized cybersecurity capabilities that involves a larger network of university programs, technology commercialization efforts, government operations and industry development."
                    

More about ITSA:

ITSA includes transportation to and from the Academy, college fees and all course textbooks. Academy students spend a ½ day at their home campus and a ½ day at one of two Academy locations. The ITSA program is available to students from any of the Bexar County area school districts ITSA applicants must be rising high school sophomores (Juniors 2003-2004) with a B average. Applicants must have previously completed the academic requirements for junior class standing including Geometry and Algebra 1.

Students who graduate from ITSA have an open pathway to UTSAs Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS). In the Fall of 2003, UTSA will offer an undergraduate degree in Infrastructure Assurance and Security. UTSA also has Masters and PhD. Degrees in development for Infrastructure Assurance and Security.

ITSA Industry Partners include: Diligent Consulting, Inc., Rackspace Managed Hosting, Karta Technologies, Tesoro Petroleum Company, SecureInfo Corporation, Symantec Corporation, SecureLogix Corporation, Veridian, Inc., AFCEA, Digital Defense, Inc., Onboard Software, Inc., ISSA -- Alamo Chapter, Paladin IT Services, The Web Head Group, CACI, Inc., Denim Group, Ltd., Mitre, ARC Information Assurance Institute, Sytex, Inc., Amerilink San Antonio, IS_Systems, and VentureRAMP, Inc.