Monday, June 17, 2002

Education

High school students get awards for tech training

By Patricia Resende

"Xintra" is the Chinese word for "new creation."

TechBoston, an organization developed to foster a school-to-career transition for students interested in technology, is responsible for more than a hundred "xintras."

More than 150 students in the Boston Public School system have each been awarded a one-year training award to train in computers and high technology at the Xintra Computer Center.

The students are recipients of the TechBoston and Xintra Scholarship Awards, which are valued at $7,000 and give students an opportunity to train at Xintra's four Bay State centers for 12 months.

Mary Skipper, executive director of TechBoston, said the training gives the students an opportunity to continue with Cisco networking, database development and Unix, among other skills.

"Opportunities they could not finish or take advantage of while in high school," she said.

"TechBoston uses this event to celebrate the success of students on a variety of levels," she added. "And it's a wonderful way to celebrate the accomplishments of students and teachers and - to augment science and math in the class."

Mayor Menino was on hand last week to give the scholarships to students in the three-year-old program. In 1999 only 50 students were awarded the scholarship, and that number grew to 100 in 2000. By 2002, the number of students receiving the training award had jumped to 150.

At the ceremony the Massachusetts Telecom Council also awarded $2,000 scholarships to 11 TechBoston graduating seniors for computer science and engineering.

"Three years ago we had no students who applied; this year we had over 20 students apply," Skipper added.