Mesa Community College Hosts Avnet Tech Games, First-Ever Technology Olympics
Phoenix -- The Olympics in Turin are history. But the first-ever technology olympics in Arizona are in full swing today at Mesa Community College, where students from the largest community college system in the United States, Maricopa Community Colleges, are vying for scholarship prizes in the first Avnet Tech Games.
Games Help Prepare Community College Students for Business World 'Pitting student teams against one another in eight competitions gives students a chance to demonstrate decision making and creative skills and to enjoy hands-on experience outside of the classroom,' says Roy Vallee, chief executive officer at Avnet, Inc. (NYSE:AVT), the host corporate sponsor of the event. 'Further, the games offer students a way to stand out from their peers by adding to the development of their communication, problem-solving and leadership skills necessary for success in the business world.'
The day's events include
- building and programming a Lego MindStorm Robot to navigate a maze and perform a task,
- building both an innovative and a fast computer from raw materials,
- configuring a defense system, designed to deter hackers, for a network environment
- creating a 30-second video production,
- building an e-commerce Web site
- designing and building a digital device
- inventing a technical product
Judges from the business community will choose the winners in each category and present the students with scholarship awards of up to $1500, funded by Analog Devices. Additionally, students who invent the best technical product will be guided through the patent process and assisted in taking their product to market by local start-up-business consultant organization Arizona Business Accelerators.
'The Avnet Tech Games will showcase the best and the brightest technology students and programs from all of the Maricopa Community Colleges,' said Mary Vanis, director of the Maricopa Community Colleges Center for Workforce Development. 'Students will use the marketable technological skills they are gaining from training at their colleges. These are skills employers will demand as technology businesses grow in Arizona,' Vanis added.
'There are several benefits derived when a Fortune 500 company partners with the educational system to create a program for students,' says Al Maag, chief communications officer, Avnet, Inc. In this case, Avnet chose an underserved constituency - the Maricopa Community Colleges. 'Lots of companies focus on K-12, and the four-year colleges also get corporate attention; but community colleges that supply a lot of talent to the work force don't get that same degree of corporate support.
The Avnet Tech Games are an opportunity for Avnet to give back to the community, but more importantly we can use this venue to help create a more educated and experienced workforce by offering students a chance to work in an extracurricular environment with business and technology professionals and to use real-world challenges to build knowledge and skills,' Maag adds.
The major corporate sponsor for the Avnet Tech Games is Freescale Semiconductor. Executive sponsors include AMD and Arizona Business Accelerator. Participating sponsors are Avid, Calence LLC, Computer Associates, IBM Global Services, Inter-tel, Microsoft, New Angle Media, Renesas, Spark Design and ST Microelectronics.
Open to the public, the Avnet Tech Games run today from 7 AM to 7 PM at Kirk Student Center, Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa, Ariz.
About Avnet
Avnet enables success from the center of the technology industry, providing cost-effective services and solutions vital to a broad base of more than 100,000 customers and 300 suppliers. The company markets, distributes and adds value to a wide variety of electronic components, enterprise computer products and embedded subsystems. Through its premier market position, Avnet brings a breadth and depth of capabilities that help its trading partners accelerate growth and realize cost efficiencies. For fiscal year ended July 2, 2005, Avnet and the recently acquired Memec (closed July 5, 2005) generated combined revenue in excess of $13 billion in the past year through sales in approximately 70 countries. Visit www.avnet.com.
Contact: Jan Jurcy
VP, Public Relations
Avnet, Inc.
480-643-7642
or
Terri Thorson
602-568-6343