Starting early: Recruiting the next generation of IT professionals

Where can you find Harry Potter, a flying car in space, and Disney princesses all in the same place? You can find those along with many more at Purdue’s computer animation camp. Last summer the inaugural camp was offered for middle school students and by all accounts it was a great success. Over the years at our Statewide Technology location of Purdue University at Columbus, we have developed many events to recruit the traditional and non-traditional student. The events and activities for the traditional students are generally geared toward juniors and seniors in high school when they start thinking about potential colleges. This past year we developed a computer camp for middle school students. Our goal was not only to let students and parents know we are here but to get them on campus and start building a relationship with them. With fierce competition for students and especially in information technology where enrollments are stagnant and in many cases declining, we felt it important to cultivate a relationship with these potential students. In this paper I will discuss the development and contents of the camp and evaluate the success of the first camp offered in the summer of 2011 and plans for future.