Diversifying Silicon Valley Diversifying Silicon Valley (February 13, 2004)

Black students get red carpet treatment at Microsoft

By Julie O'Shea

In an effort to get more minority teens interested in the technology field, Microsoft invited about 50 high school students to its La Avenida campus last week for a day of computer software demonstrations and video game playing.

The Blacks at Microsoft Student Day -- now in its 14th year nationwide and its second year in California -- was held simultaneously in Mountain View, Redmond, Wash. and Charlotte, N.C. on Feb.6.

Microsoft employees spent the day sharing stories of their career journeys with students and attempting to get the teens excited about someday applying for a job in the high-tech world.

"It's going surprisingly well," said Microsoft employee and event organizer Wendell Jones between demonstrations at the company's convention center. "We have a full gamut. We have some (students) who are snoozing, and then there are those who are really excited to be here."

Erin Gums, a 16-year-old senior at the Athenian School, an academically challenging high school in the East Bay, said she found the day "interesting" and "fun."

"I think it's a good program," she added. "Not a lot of kids like us are doing things like this."

Gums is a member of the Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology, a spin-off of U.C. Berkeley's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department, which has a goal of promoting interest in information technology among a diverse group of youths.

Gums wants to go into the bioengineering field and said her first choice for undergraduate studies is Stanford University.

"We don't know what we want to be when we grow up," said Annie Le, a junior at College Preparatory School in Oakland.

Le had her eyes glued to a television monitor where she was engrossed in one of the video games Microsoft had on display for a presentation on the Xbox.

"I am learning a lot right now," Le added. "I didn't even know Xbox was a Microsoft product."

Ted Colton, director of Microsoft's business productivity and solutions group, told the teens to "never give up on education, whatever you do.

"You don't have to be a straight-A student to work at Microsoft," Colton said, explaining how he hadn't been serious about school and was eventually kicked out of college after his grade point average got dangerously low. Soon after, Colton said he returned to college and graduated at the top of his class.

"People in industry care about them and ... they have the support to reach their dreams," said Orpheus Crutchfield, director of the Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology.

Karina Rivera, a junior at Lincoln High School in San Francisco, said she was glad that she got a chance to participate in the day at Microsoft.

"It gives us an opportunity that we don't normally get from being a minority," said Rivera, who plans to pursue computer engineering, hopefully at U.C. Santa Barbara.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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