ITEC-Lansing - ITEC on WILS-1320

ITEC on WILS-1320

On October 8, ITEC brought together business, governmental and community leaders to celebrate ITEC's vision for opportunity for strong IT education for Capital region K-12 students, and to grow our IT work force. Listen to a streaming broadcast of the event where Lansing's own Jack Ebling of WILS-1320 spoke with Lansing leaders about ITEC.

Kirk Riley and Teresa VanderSloot

ITEC Executive Director Kirk Riley and Board President Teresa VanderSloot set forth ITEC's vision for building IT skills for the next generation of Lansing students, to strengthen opportunity for Lansing school children and build Lansing's IT work force. "One of the secrets is the Lansing is already a magnet" for IT careers and companies, Riley says. "We need to be stronger and we need to bridge the digital divide. We help trumpet our IT sector, to make sure students understand that this exists in Lansing."

David Hollister

Former Lansing Mayor David Hollister talks about the dynamic public-private-neighborhood-academic partnership to strengthen the Holmes Street Neighborhood and Lansing IT employment opportunities. On the partnership, Hollister says, "It's public-private, the City working with the University, the neighborhood working with the City--and taking an old, abandoned school that was a liability for a neighborhood and turning into a productive business as a place for kids and parents to learn technology."

Dr. T. C. Wallace

Dr. T.C. Wallace, Superintendent of the Lansing School District, talks about the "vibrant learning center" that ITEC represents for students throughout the Lansing Region. "Imagine the possibilities" for our students.

Ryan Vartoogian

ITEC Board Member Ryan Vartoogian, President and CEO of Spartan Internet Corporation, discusses the falloff of students graduating in technology fields and the need for an IT workforce in the Lansing region. ITEC will "get more and more kids exposed to technology, particularly those who might not have access to technology," he says.

Paula Cunningham

Capitol National Bank President and CEO Paula Cunningham discusses the importance of IT skills in business, banking, health care and education. "It's hard to find the right people, so we have to grow our own." ITEC will help us do that.

Adam Pitcher

Adam Pitcher, President of the Holmes Street Neighborhood Association, is the visionary leader who launched ITEC to help re-build his neighborhood and strengthen Lansing's IT education. "We need to expose our middle and high school students to technology, to excite them about these subjects and these fields," Pitcher says, " to enable them to enter IT careers."

Kim Wilcox

Kim Wilcox, Michigan State University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, describes the value of ITEC for MSU. ITEC "is the visible evidence of the opportunity to take MSU into the community; our students can see the impact of the things they learn about in an actual community. And we there are "future students who come through the ITEC doors who are going to enter Michigan State someday."

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, one of ITEC's strongest champions, describes MSU, LCC and the private sector stepping up to make ITEC a reality. ITEC helps "close the digital divide where our students fall behind," Mayor Bernero says, "and we know our students need more and more computer knowledge to be competitive in this economy." Mayor Bernero's leadership has increased ITEC's visibility among the Lansing corporate and academic communities.