The Virginia Student Training and Refurbishment program (or VA STAR) is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Departments of Education and General Services to introduce Virginia's students to the field of IT repair.

The ultimate goal of the VA STAR program is to create a sustainable educational program that takes surplus hardware from state agencies or private companies in order to offer students IT repair certification.  "Governor Kaine's vision for career and technical education is furthered by innovative collaborations that Forest Park has offered to lead," added Secretary Morris.

This interactive web site will be designed for schools, afterschool clubs and community leaders to further IT skills of today's youth and to assist in placing computers in needed locations. For more information about the Statewide inititive please click here.

SWAT students from Forest Park's iT Program donated 27 comptuers to families from Loch Lomond Elementary School on December 17th. Over 30 students from the program as well as The Spanish Club assisted in the event.
Click here to view a slideshow of the evening.

On December 8th, 2009 students from the Advanced Technology Center repaired and donated over 25 complete computer systems for local families.

Click here to check out the Advanced Technology Center Webpage
Click here to view the Channel 3 News Video of the event
Click here to view a short slideshow of the event

Click here to download the VA STAR Power Point Presentation that was used at the VSTE State Technology Conference Dec. 1st, 2009

On December 2nd, Forest Park iT SWAT students assisted Freedom students and staff to donate 65 computer systems to Freedom High School Families. Computer systems were donated by the PW Education Foundation and worked on by students from both scfhools. To view some of the events click here.  

Virginia Beach Public Schools took their first shipment of computers. Va Beach will become the first large system to join the STAR network of training students and donating computers to schools and families. View a slideshow here.

Dianne Steven's networking / Mobile S.W.A.T students spent time recently preparing for the fall VA STAR program. A new partnership with Virginia Beach Public School Schools will offer valuable insights into both specialty programs.

On April 30th over 20 SWAT students from Forest Park worked with Joanne Arcee from Graham Park Middle school on their first Bridging the Gap evening. Over 30 computers where configured and donated to families through the VA STAR program. As part of the evening many middle school students were trained in the entire process.

slideshow on the event

pictures

Aneesh Chopra attended the Porter BTG event and later was the Keynote speaker at the special School Board dinner for him. After the event he was presented with an honorary Forest Park iT Program Gold medal.

Click here for the Students Working to Advance Technology page
Click this link to see a video of how the SWAT program works

Speak Up is an annual national research project facilitated by Project Tomorrow. The purpose of the project is to collect and report the unfiltered feedback from students, parents and teachers on key educational issues.Use the data to stimulate local conversations and raise national awareness about the importance of including the viewpoints of students, parents, and teachers in the education dialogue.