Summer program to teach tech

Published 11:53 am Friday, May 17, 2019

Black Belt Technologies and the City of Selma have partnered to establish a summer program teaching technological proficiency to the youth of Selma.

The forthcoming six-week course has been planned to teach children 10 to 15-years-old coding, language programming, artificial intelligence and data science.

“We’re trying to establish a technological base in Selma,” said Wayne Green, CEO of Black Belt Technologies. “Most Internet users, especially teenagers, understand how to use technology, but they don’t understand that there’s a whole lot of things that happen in the background. The goal of the project is to teach young men and young ladies technological proficiency.”

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Green believes that children understanding technology is the key to a successful future.

While Green has big plans for the project, it is still in early development and the future of the program beyond this summer is uncertain.

“We’re learning as we’re going,” said Green. “We didn’t want to plan too rigidly.”

The summer course begins on Saturday, June 8. The course will be held from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday for six weeks. Everything after that will be determined by how well the course goes during the summer.

According to Green, Selma Mayor Darrio Melton is also enthusiastic about the project.

“He’s extremely excited,” said Green. “You know, it’s one of those clichés, but children really are our future,” said Green. “If we’re going to keep pace with the rest of the world we have to understand. It’s not optional anymore it’s a necessity.”