BFOIT Wraps Up Successful Summer Institute
August 19, 2004
BFOIT, the Berkeley Foundation for Opportunities in Information Technology, a project of the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley, California, has just concluded its most successful summer program yet. Executive Director Orpheus Crutchfield said that "both qualitatively and quantitatively, this summer was well above the rest." This year, BFOIT expanded its summer program from serving 25 high school students to 75 middle school and high school students.
BFOIT works year-round with young people, providing education, motivation and support to female and underrepresented minority students to encourage them to pursue careers in computer science and engineering. The Summer Institute, held at Soda Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, is the finale of the year-round program. During the week-long Summer Institute, students take programming classes, become a tight-knit cohort and support network, and attend motivational talks by engineers and computer scientists.