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Northwest Mississippi Community College computer science instructor and faculty sponsor Richard Swinney (left), supervises students Chris Mallory of Coldwater, Alec Bevier of Olive Branch, Corey Tartt of Grenada, Russell Anderson of Olive Branch and Chylana Rudd of Batesville (left-to-right) as they learn leadership skills and earn six hours of computer science credit in this summer’s selective Computing Experience Program at Mississippi State University.  They are pictured with Amy Payne (right), director, division of business. (Photo by Sarah Sapp)

Northwest Students Explore Computer Programming and Leadership at MState

August 18, 2010

By Sarah Sapp

For The Observer

Senatobia — Six of the twelve students selected to participate in this summer’s Computing Experience Program at Mississippi State University—a competitive, five-week, full-scholarship program intended for first-year community college students pursuing majors in business information systems, computer engineering, computer science or software engineering—were from Northwest Mississippi Community College.

Preston Abram of Southaven, Corey Tartt of Grenada, Chris Mallory of Coldwater, Chylana Rudd of Batesville, and Alec Bevier and Russell Anderson, both of Olive Branch, spent the month of June earning college credit for two academic classes—iPhone programming and leadership in computing—and learning more about opportunities to continue their computing education careers at MSU.

Through a National Science Foundation grant, MSU was able to provide tuition for the two classes, housing, a meal allowance and a $1200 stipend for each participant. The goal of this program is to pique students’ interest in computing majors and computing careers to help spur the much-needed creation of more skilled computing professionals.

“Degree programs in management information systems and computer science are in increasing demand more now than ever before,” said Amy Payne, division of business director at Northwest. “Mississippi State adding this program is a wonderful way to expose students to these majors and encourage them to transfer in the pursuit of a four-year degree."

In addition to learning business leadership skills, students learned how to create applications for the iPhone—skills key to entrepreneurial opportunities in computer science, according to Northwest computer science instructor and program faculty sponsor, Richard Swinney of Oxford.

“We learned about the teamwork necessary to work in computer science,” said Rudd. “You have to be able to work in a team when you get out in the real world.”

For more information about opportunities in computer science at Northwest, contact Payne at apayne@northwestms.edu.