AITP Region 7 Conference, Nashville, October 14-16, 2004

Thanks to everyone who attended the Region 7 Student Conference in Nashville. The conference theme was "Careers in IT". The conference was held in conjunction with the annual region meeting of the Region Directors of Region 7. This was the first time the Nashville Chapter has sponsored a student conference and all were pleased with the results.

In attendance were 76 students, 14 faculty and 29 others, including 10 judges, six speakers and four local AITP staff. Attendees represented 12 colleges from six states. There were 37 contest teams and 61 students participating in the contests. Student participation in the contests was 80 percent.

The seminars were: How To Find a Job, Job Interviewing, How To Keep a Job, Certification, and Project Management. Some of the seminars were repeated on Saturday for students who were competing in the contests. Also on Saturday was a job fair. The contests were held at ITT Technical Institute, a few blocks from the host hotel, Prime Hotel and Suites.

The following awards were given out at the banquet:

Network Design
1^st Christian Siebeneck & Stewart Dowd, Kent State University
2^nd Eric Wilson and Steven Taylor, Delta State University
3^rd Brad Crossman and Trystan Hayden, High Tech Institute
Honorable Mention: Cornell Worthy and Thomas Romans, Middle Georgia Technical

Systems Analysis and Design
1^st Casey Owen and Mohamed Ebrahim, Murray State University
2^nd Josh Davis and Marcus Grider, High-Tech Institute
3^rd Lee Kirkland and Crystal Hightower, Dekalb Technical College

Trouble Shooting a PC
1^st Brian Ratliff and Rich Hartnett, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
2^nd Efrain Donaldson and Joseph Clickner, ChattahoocheeTechnical
3^rd Joseph Sawyer and Mitch Pinnel, Middle Georgia Technical
Honorable Mention: Josh Henry and Hunter Wright, Middle Tennessee State Univ.
Honorable Mention: Josh Davis and Marcus Grider, High-Tech Institute
Honorable Mention: Stanley Stewart and Matthew Colton, High-Tech Institute

Visual Studio.NET
1^st Casey Owen and Mohamed Ebrahim, Murray State University
2^nd Gene Merlin and Ali Aydin, Delta State University

Web Design
1^st Bobbi Jacobson, Dekalb Technical College
2^nd Cleveland Sasson and Efrain Donaldson, Chattahoochee Technical
3^rd Violet Amey and Blake Bozeman, Middle Georgia Technical
Honorable Mention: Rhonda Hatt and Mike Mills, Middle Georgia Technical
Honorable Mention: Carol Evans and Annette Evans, Middle Georgia Technical

I am looking forward to the National Student Conference in April in Atlanta.