I am so excited
June 10th, 2016 I delivered key donations to Galena High School in Reno Nevada and the school is going to become a Cisco Academy. I’m so excited I decided to blog about it. So, this article is a little bit about it. And, if you find this interesting, there’s some useful information for you at the bottom.
Let’s give some thanks first
There’s a company in Reno called Network Solution Services. Owners Scott and Lisa Madison have always been generous with donations to the school. And, they came through with another generous donation for this academic project. The first thing I want to do is thank them for that. Below is picture of NSS founder Scott Madison.
Also, there is a teacher at Galena named Mr. Shoda. He’s a great guy that really cares about the kids. He coaches sports, teaches some of the STEM classes and convinced our principal this was a good idea! A big thanks needs to go out to Mr. Shoda. Here’s a picture of me handing over the check from NSS to Mr. Shoda and a confirmation letter regarding a Cisco donation.
What we did
Galena High School is becoming a Cisco Academy. Next year, kids at Galena will be able to take the IT Essentials course for the first time. I’m excited because these kids will graduate high school with job-ready skills. Up until now, I’ve been pretty happy with the school and the STEM program. But, with this additional, I’m thinking this top rated Nevada school (#2 in the state according to US News) might climb to #1.
Want to do this for your school?
What’s really great is that it isn’t really all that hard to make this happen. A few interested parents and a great, energetic teacher can make this happen. Cisco will help. Below is a rough listing of what we did to make it happen:
- Find a teacher to help (Math or STEM teachers are perfect)
- Present the idea to the teacher
- Teacher uses presentation to get school approval (This is the hardest part)
- A couple parents and local companies donate a small amount of money (Under $3k!)
- A teacher gets trained and we have a new class
The first year will be the IT Essentials class, which, after testing, results in a CompTIA A+ certification for the kids. Moving forward, as the school gets further into the program, we’ll be looking to add the first two CCNA classes, enabling students to test for their CCENT certification. CCENT is the beginning of a great career in networking. One note is that there will be more funding required for the CCNA classes. But, the success of the kids in year 1 should make that easy. Check out the presentation to see more about the financing.
Want to help?
If you are a Cisco employee and you think this is worthy of a donation, you can go to our Community Connection page, and Cisco will match your donation! Just search for Galena High School and donate! We’re going to need more money to add that class next year.
If you’re not a Cisco employee, but feel like you’d like to help, send a check to:
3600 Butch Cassidy Way
Reno, NV. 89511
Attn: “Cisco Academy Donations”
Wondering about other Cisco giving and education?
Here are three things I love about Cisco:
- Cisco DevNet (Free Learning Network for Developers to Learn Cisco Technology)
- Cisco Training & Certifications (Great Jobs For Cisco CC** Trained People)
- Cisco Corporate Social Responsibility (Cisco Gives a lot of Donations)
Thanks for reading,