Thanks to SummerTech and Rentacomputer.com, the GoldenEye Foundation has been provided with laptops and wireless internet for its first peer teaching program which began this month. SummerTech has designed its teacher training program to be inclusive, challenging, and enormously beneficial to its staff and campers. SummerTech’s teachers come from within the community after a process of training and experience that makes a difference for the rest of these students’ lives. Every SummerTech camper is invited to take on this unique opportunity, which has proven results over the past two decades. Naturally, this program has been extended to SummerTech’s new students in Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica.
The GoldenEye Foundation
The GoldenEye Foundation was established in 1995 by Chris Blackwell as the philanthropic arm of the GoldenEye Resort based in Jamaica. This became a catalyst for the sustainable development of the Oracabessa community and its environs. This foundation works towards improving the quality of life of the people within the community of Oracabessa through projects implemented in its two core programs: People and Planet. Through a variety of programs, this program hopes to impact livelihood development, marine conservation, and provide a positive and engaged outlook for youth in the area.
The main goal of the People program is to attain healthy, thriving lives that will maintain the well-being of people within the Oracabessa Community in Jamaica. The Planet program’s core focus is marine conservation – as it aims to preserve the biodiversity of Oracabessa Bay as a Marine Protected Area, for the mutual benefit of marine life, our local fishermen, and the wider Oracabessa community.
Thanks to a partnership with Coditum and SummerTech, The GoldenEye Foundation has an opportunity to teach youth coding and work towards providing these individuals opportunities in the future as digital entrepreneurs.
About Coditum
Coditum is a tech company based in Westchester, New York. The company offers coding instruction through a learning system that offers personal attention, small class sizes, and teaching tailored to how youth learn. Coditum provides coding education to beginners, experts, and to persons of all ages. Coditum has also been successfully hosting tech camps for youth for years and is expanding its horizons with GoldenEye.
The SummerTech Leadership Program
At SummerTech, each camper learns individually and directly from their instructor. With no tedious educational packets to follow along with, students benefit from 1-on-1 sessions with an experienced instructor.
After students complete this program, they have an opportunity to go into Counselor Training, which is a precursor to teacher training. The CIT program is a one-week experience that is available to any camper who has completed 9th grade. During the Counselor-in-Training (CIT) week, students will be on a team with their fellow CITs to perform a set of tasks, autonomously, to both support and further the SummerTech experience for everyone. Some of the CIT experiences include:
- Continuing your studies by taking a full course
- Creating lines of communication between all CITs
- Supporting and assisting on SummerTech electives
- Creating and operating SummerTech events
- Supporting SummerTech staff and instructors
- Prioritizing teamwork – “If one CIT fails we all fail”
To become a CIT you must meet the following requirements:
- Completed 9th grade
- Commitment to at least two weeks (at least one as a camper, one as CIT)
- You can not do more than one CIT week
Peer Teaching with SummerTech
Each year SummerTech has 40-50 instructors, 98% of which have been developed from within the leadership program. The leadership program begins for these scholars at the age of 15 with team building weeks, year-long internships, and teaching development through outreach programs where we serve at-risk communities by teaching them how to code in 2:1 or 1:1 classes.
SummerTech invites all students to go through the leadership program, with those who excel being awarded scholarships to become a part of the rich culture of teaching and community in the program.
The minimum goal for the Peer Teaching Program at SummerTech is to teach code very well and get results from all of its students. The program also provides a fulfilling experience for the instructors involved. All in all, perhaps the best outcome is when a coding student that began in the leadership program becomes a teacher with a student or students of their own. SummerTech is hoping to take a trip with its teachers to their new community in Jamaica in 2023!
Jamaica’s First Community-based Coding and App Development Program
The GoldenEye Foundation in Jamaica will be collaborating with two US Companies (Coditum/SummerTech) to implement Jamaica’s very first community-based coding and app development program in order to benefit the youth in the rural community of Oracabessa, Jamaica.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of embracing emerging digital culture was clear to the leaders of this program. So it was decided to begin the coding program in order to provide a source of digital and software knowledge to students in the area.
On top of the pandemic, the unemployment of the younger generation has been listed as the largest developmental challenge in the community of Oracabessa, based on research by the Social Development Commission in Jamaica.
Through the new coding program, the foundation believes they can build upon the available skill sets of students in coding and app development that wouldn’t otherwise be facilitated through formal secondary education. The GoldenEye Foundation hopes to inspire future digital entrepreneurs, create new opportunities, and most of all create new solutions to respond to the challenges of today’s society.
How to Equip Your Coding Camp with Technology
Rentacomputer.com is proud to provide technology rental solutions to training and coding camps like SummerTech, Coditum, and the Goldeneye Foundation. Are you looking for a cost-effective rental solution for your coding camp or similar venture?
There is no better solution than a technology rental when it comes to cost-effectiveness, product upgradeability, navigation around the supply chain, tech support, product support, and much more! When you use a company like Rentacomputer.com, you have a vast array of technology available at your fingertips. No matter what you need, Rentacomputer has you covered.
For coding camps, we recommend gaming laptops and PCs. When you book a rental with us, you can have us upload all of the necessary software onto all of your rental units, that way you can just plug, play, and start teaching to code!
Visit our PC & AV Rental Pricing Factors page to find out about our pricing estimates.
Are you thinking about renting laptops, desktops, wireless routers, or mobile hotspots for a coding camp? Tech Travel Agent Tony Cipollone specializes in technology solutions including laptops, gaming PCs, workstations, wireless internet, and more for coding camps and other events. Tony can answer any questions you have about computers and other necessary equipment, as well as the renting process. Contact Tony today at 1-800-736-8772 ext. 241 or fill out a fast, easy online quote form.
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