News Releases

High School Students with Disabilities Attend USM Computing Institute

June 16 , 2006

Next Monday and Tuesday (June 19-20) USM's Gorham campus will be alive with 12 high school sophomore, juniors and seniors with disabilities who are attending a two-day Summer Computing Institute. Students come from the following towns in Maine: Biddeford, Northeast Harbor, North Haven, Old Orchard Beach, Scarborough, Topsham, Warren and Waldoboro. Taught by USM Professor of Computer Science Charles Welty and University of Massachusetts-Boston Professor of Computer Science Robert Cohen, the institute is designed to motivate high school students with disabilities to consider higher education courses and careers in computing fields.

The Institute is funded by the National Science Foundation through the Alliance for Access to Computing Careers, which is led by the University of Washington, and through the Eastern Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (EAST), led by USM. Additional support was provided by Bangor Savings Bank.

In addition to computer skills, students attending the Institute will look at computing options related to college and career selection, meet individuals in business and industry with disabilities, meet college admissions officers and computing professors, and visit SMCC and USM.

The best times to take photographs are 2:30-4 p.m., Monday, June 19 in the computer lab in Room 405, Bailey Hall, during a computer activity time, and 12:30-1:15 p.m., Tuesday, June 20, in Room 405, Bailey Hall, when students are showing their parents what they learned at the institute.

A schedule for the institute is attached. For more information about the Institute, please contact Nancy Lightbody, co-director and project manager of EAST at 207-866-688-4573, ext. 148.

Editor's note: To facilitate on-site coverage, each student has signed a photo/video release form.

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