Applying Technology to Solve Real World Problems
Technology Solutions started the semester well by trying to solve the world’s problems with technology. From joining other CAPS strands in the 1Week1CAPS experience, to site visits to Light Edge and a Ricoh Hologram event, to dynamic guest speakers, students have received broad exposure to many aspects of technology careers. Monica Rowe from Mazuma has shared stories of the need for constant vigilance and protection through cybersecurity, Brandon Pfeiffer from Garmin has shared product advancement in the five pillars of Garmin and recommendations for becoming a software engineer, Dr. Marvin Early has emphasized the importance of incremental testing through his presentation on the software development cycle and Brian McClendon, one of the founders of Google Earth, previewed the future of technology with an emphasis on machine learning.
Students presented their three project ideas in a showcase last week, describing their business partner projects, personal passion projects and community outreach projects. Zach Kemp, a BVSW senior indicates that he loves “the opportunity to pursue a passion you have whole-heartedly”. Nick Monaco, a BVNW senior, echoes that sentiment by stating he appreciates “the control over what you do to make your own technology solution”.
Business partners this semester include Garmin, Signature Funerals, SoPro Gaming , C.H.A.S.E., CAPS Filmmaking, Jewish Community Center, Green Lantern, South Kansas City Surgical Center, LightEdge, Ricoh and VR in KC Schools. Students work closely with clients to help develop products including web pages or wire-framing applications, to preliminary coding of solutions. Steven Morris, BVW senior reflected on the LightEdge site visit by stating, “it was fascinating to hear of all the security measures for the data center and witness the bio-metric scanner for access to the physical manifestation of the cloud”.
Community Outreach this semester includes the KU Design Competition, the K-State coding competition, the CAPS network hackathon in St. Louis hosted by STL CAPS, and another CyberPatriot team. Eli Weissend, senior at St. Thomas Aquinas, summarizes the competition by stating, “the CyberPatriot program is a unique opportunity to work as a team and see how vulnerable our devices can be while learning to fix those weak points”.
Personal passion projects this semester include game development, pursuit of A+ certification, app development, website creation, using machine learning to learn an unknown environment, creating a data collection company, an annotation solution for high school English courses and helping visually impaired students with technology.
Our end of semester showcases will take place December 11th and 13th in the CAPS presentation room, from 6-8 pm. We appreciate all the community support and look forward to sharing all the progress students have made throughout the semester.