By Janice Phelan,
June 4, 2019

Approximately 110 high school boys from throughout the Kansas City metropolitan area
attended the Brothers In Technology (BIT) Conference May 15. The event was hosted
by the 欧美视频 (UCM) Gigabit Lab and .
The BIT Gathering is designed to expose, educate and engage urban boys, ages 15-18,
with technology to bridge the digital literacy divide and to encourage their pursuit
of STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics - careers through
hands-on experiences and workshops.
鈥淭he Brothers In Technology event was created to provide urban male youth exposure
to technology,鈥 said Joe Mullins of the 欧美视频, 鈥渁nd give
them a glimpse of applications related to science, technology, engineering, arts and
math careers. We hope after attending this event they will start to investigate what
it takes to participate in these careers.鈥
The young men participated in workshops such as computer-aided design (CAD), robotics,
coding/programming, virtual reality, circuit boards and audioengineering. Sponsors
include the 欧美视频, Microsoft, Google Fiber, Truman Medical
Centers, Kansas City Economic Development Corporation, UMB Bank, Honeywell, Kansas
City Public Schools Mentoring, DeBruce Foundation and GBA.
The BIT Gathering was held at Missouri Innovation Campus, a state-of-the-art, high-tech facility, housing UCM undergraduate completion and
graduate degrees as well as professional education. Through a unique partnership,
the building is also home to Summit Technology Academy, operated by the Lee鈥檚 Summit
R-7 School District and serving high schools within a number of other area school
districts.
The UCM Gigabit Lab is designed for growth-oriented companies and innovators and helps
them develop products designed primarily in the education, cyber and healthcare vertical.
The focus is on education, cybersecurity, Internet of Things, workforce and healthcare
applications that can be deployed to students and teachers in K-12 grades and UCM
degree and certificate programs.
For more information about Brothers In Technology, contact Ina P. Montgomery, founder
and executive director of Urban TEC, at kcbitgathering@gmail.com or (816) 533-5693.