This summer, Miami University hosted the second INTERalliance IT Careers Camp on its Oxford campus to show area high school students the exciting opportunities in information technology.

The sessions featured four teams competing in various daily “problem-solving Olympics” in which they proposed IT solutions for real-world challenges. Corporate sponsors in this year’s Miami program were Kroger, Lexis Nexis, L&T Infotech, and Proctor & Gamble.

In a week-long capstone project, “Communication Enhancer Inventor’s Competition,” each team designed a device to help people with special needs communicate more effectively. Miami is partnering with Abilities First, a Middletown, Ohio service provider for children and adults with disabilities whose staff judged the students’ creations on the final day.

The INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati is a collaborative effort of regional businesses and educators, creating an environment that gives local young IT talent a compelling reason to stay in southwest Ohio both for college and their careers.

“The INTERalliance is honored to help Miami University celebrate its bicentennial with this highly competitive program that exposes the region’s best and brightest high school students to career opportunities in information technology,” said Doug Arthur, executive director of INTERalliance.

Megan Kuykendoll, Latino community coordinator at Miami, served as program director. Douglas Troy, chair of the computer science and software engineering department, sponsored this program. “The IT Careers Camp is a wonderful opportunity for high school students to explore careers in the area, such as software engineering, computer science, and information systems, while at the same time experiencing life on Miami’s beautiful college campus in Oxford.”