BDPA Atlanta Chapter president Felicia Jones issued this message entitled, 'Year of Atlanta; Making History' to her chapter stakeholders in October 2012.

1. Newsletter Article
Year of Atlanta (YOA); Making History!
We kicked off the third quarter making history at the National BDPA Conference in Baltimore,
MD. I am very honored and proud to announce the Atlanta BDPA National High School
Computer Competition (HSCC) Team won 1st Place!
Our students made several historical moments with this win. In the 27 years of the competition,
the first time
 Atlanta has won 1st place,
 a team received a perfect score on programming,
 a person has won 1st place as a student and a coordinator; Wesley Williams!
On behalf of the Student Program of Atlanta BDPA and the entire Atlanta BDPA chapter, I would
like to thank everyone for their support because you helped to make this possible. Our sponsors
and individual donors were instrumental in our students attending the national competition this
year. The chapter looks forward to everyone’s continued support in the upcoming years.

2. We continued making history by continuing to provide more webinars than any other chapter.
In this quarter, we provided webinars on 3FE, Entrepreneurship, Software Engineering in
Aerospace, The State of BDPA, and HSCC-Recap of 2012 National Conference. Attendees learned
how to: Lock That Job with using the 3FE approach (Find, Focus, and ) with Derrick Brown; Start
and maintain an IT business and determining if entrepreneurship is really for them with Chiadi
Obi; develop software in safety critical systems like an airplane with Alphonse Porter; The
Atlanta Leadership Team also presented The State of BDPA, a mid-year year in review, openly
discussing our roadmap, accomplishments, and failures; and the instructors, volunteers, parents
and students of the HSCC team discussed their experiences at the 2012 National BDPA
Conference. At our monthly program meeting in September, we continued to educate our
members and future members on Big Data with Dr. Craig Brown leading an informative lecture
and discussion on the trend of interacting with big data in the IT world.
Macy's Systems & Technology gave everyone an opportunity to wind down by sponsoring a
Summer Mixer at Abbotts Old Towne Tavern & Grill. We had a great evening of networking. Our
members and guests also had the opportunity to 'give back' through our community
outreach event, by donating back-to-school supplies and providing canned food for The Bridge
Builders & Norcross Co-op organizations. Our outreach in the community continued as we got
“down and dirty" at Atlanta Community Food Bank’s community garden. The Food Bank
supports a wide range of people in need, from children to the working poor. Food pantries,

3. community kitchens, childcare centers, night shelters, and senior centers are among the
agencies that receive products from the organization; and provide food and other critical
resources for low-income Georgians who suffer from hunger and food insecurity.
Our final historical moment was when Next Level Technology Foundation, Inc. hosted the
inaugural Black IT Executive Forum as a fundraising event for BDPA - HSCC. The event was the
first of its kind in Atlanta, focusing on senior African-American IT professionals and their journey
to their current roles. The panelists were Monique Berry (President, NBDPA), Michael Fisher
(SVP - Ceridian), Derek Johnson (CIO, SED International), Curtis Rawlings (Interim CIO, Dekalb
County), Darius Jackson Ryals (GVP - Wyndham Worldwide), Lee Scott (VP – Macy’s Systems &
Technology) and moderated by Mike Williams (SVP - FIS & NBDPA - Dir, South Region);
they served as mentors and inspirations. The event raised $2,700; $1,400 for BDPA and $1,300
for HSCC.

4. I know I wrote in the paragraph above ‘final historical moment’, but if you don’t know anything
about the Atlanta Leadership team, please know this: Nothing is EVER ‘final’ with us. Besides,
we have another quarter to go…YOA!
Felicia Jones, President of Atlanta BDPA Chapter
president@atlantabdpa.org
www.atlantabdpa.org