April Competition Tests Students on Application of Technology

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/09/09

Students from Arizona's colleges and universities will compete in a tech competition this April that will challenge them to develop innovative solutions to address global concerns: building a green energy lamp and using technology to address humanitarian needs such as world hunger, homelessness, and global education.

Avnet, a technology distributor, will host its Tech Games April 4, 2009 to give students a chance to apply what they're learning in school to win scholarships.

"With thousands of students applying for the same jobs, getting the chance to test and demonstrate what you've learned in a team environment is a resume builder," said Ken Jackson, instructor, computer support specialist program at Maricopa Skills Center. "Plus the Avnet Tech Games is a terrific way for students to meet representatives from top technology companies."

The annual multidisciplinary technology competition is composed of nine separate competitive events and requires students to work in teams to test their knowledge, creativity, decision-making, problem-solving, and technical skills.

Students will have the chance to develop a proposal to address some global concern using technology and to design, build, and test a solar-powered solid state lamp by retrofitting a camping lantern with light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a rechargeable battery, a charging/power circuit, solar cells and other components

The event also provides competitions such as building and assembling the fastest PC from parts that the team has pre-selected; connecting, configuring, and securing a network to support surveillance, paging, email, and IP phones; and creating a virtual server environment within a specified time to mimic a consolidation project.

Sponsors include a number of major technology and other organizations, such as VMware.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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