Early on in high school I spent most of my time learning the ins and outs of desktop publishing applications. I excelled in that and decided to expand into networking because our school was starting a new set of classes in that direction. I did well in networking and enjoyed it, but there was one more field that I wanted to try before graduating from high school. That was application and web programming. The problem was that my class load was already packed and I didn’t have the resources to learn the material at home. It wasn’t until a friend invited me to join him at a BDPA meeting and I started attending regularly that I was able to explore the programming world.
It was even better than taking a class on the subject though because we had real-world professionals that taught us. The environment was relaxed and you were able to learn at your own pace. We met in sophisticated “classrooms” that were owned by the companies we dreamed of one day working for which honestly made the whole experience very inspirational; then there was the National High School Computer Competition in Chicago. Although our chapter did not win, I will never forget and will always treasure the experience. Ultimately, BDPA exposed me to the field I later decided would be my starting career. For that I will always be grateful to those that sacrificed their time and money.