Sparta High School students excel in technology

Sparta - Michael Sobin, a sophomore, and Daniel Shick, a junior, at Sparta High School have been selected to participate in the National Youth Leadership Forum on Technology to be held July 9 - July 17 in San Jose, Calif. The forum is a nine-day program that brings together gifted students, educators and industry professionals to help prepare students who have with a passion for technology for professional careers in the field. The program provides a curriculum for group participation and individual interests. Students will participate in workshops, visit campuses and see product demonstrations by leading technology corporations. They will participate in gaming panels, write software, build networks and develop solutions to real-world problems using current research and technology. Each participant will also be asked to develop future innovations. Keynote speakers this year will be Dr. Sophie Vandebroek, CTO of Xerox Corporation, and Blake Ross, architect of Firefox web browser. Among the companies and institutions that have participated in recent years are Apple Computer, Inc., IBM, Intel, NASA Ames Research Center, Microsoft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation, San Jose State University, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to Sobin and Shick, Daniel dos Santos, a Sparta High sophomore, has been participating in the Science and Technology Enrichment Program at the N.J. Institute of Technology on Saturday mornings this spring. The selective program is offered at no cost to talented students in the disciplines of computer science, mathematics, physics, chemistry and environmental science. Acceptance in the program is based on merit. Courses are taught by NJIT instructors with expertise in technology and its uses. Dos Santos has taken a computer science course in cryptography. All three students are taking advance placement computer science classes this year. For more information, log on to nylf.org/tech/ or njit.edu/v2/step/.