School of Information Systems and Management

Business+Technology Boot Camps for High Schools

Free boot camps for high school Juniors and Seniors.

All boot camps will be held in CIS 1035 unless otherwise specified. View Map

The Information Systems & Decision Sciences department at the USF Muma College of Business is organizing a series of 3 hour morning boot camps that will run throughout the year on select Saturday mornings. In these boot camps you will:

  1. Learn something useful in the first hour (9-10 a.m.)
  2. Apply it in a small group project in the remaining time and present it to the class (10:30 - 12:30 p.m.)
  3. Optional after-class assignment: Students who attend will get an opportunity to do a small project on your own over the next two months, which will be graded by a USF College of Business faculty member.

Upcoming Boot Camp Topics

  • TBA

Past Boot Camp Topics

    • Saturday, February 21, 2015
      Systems Analysis with Professor Joni Jones

    • Saturday, December 6, 2014
      Information Security with Professor Clinton Daniel

    • Saturday, November 1, 2014 
      Systems Analysis with Professor Joni Jones

    • Saturday, October 4, 2014
      Predictive Modeling with Professor Balaji Padmanabhan

    • Saturday, September 6, 2014
      Coding Workshop (code.org) with Professor Barbara Warner

    • Saturday, Aug 9, 2014
      App UI Design with Professor Manish Agrawal

    • Saturday, July 5, 2014
      Data Analytics in Excel with Professor Balaji Padmanabhan

 

Cost

The boot camps are all absolutely free. However you should be able to get to the USF Tampa campus on your own.

What do you get for attending

All students receive a USF Muma College of Business certificate of completion at the end of each boot camp (if you attend several you will get one certificate for each). Students who complete the optional project will get a formal letter of commendation from the Department Chair of the Information Systems & Decision Sciences Department. A simple lunch (pizza, water) will be provided.

An Example

  • In the first hour you will be taught how to analyze a simple business data set in Excel, create summaries and insights, and summarize this in a short PowerPoint presentation.

  • For the rest of the boot camp, you will be put in small teams, given a real business data set, asked to analyze this using Excel and create your own short presentation that summarizes the main findings from your data analysis. After this you will get a formal certificate issued to you for successful completion of a "Data Analytics in Excel" boot camp at the USF Muma College of Business, which you can use any way you want, including in college applications.

  • You will then be given a new data set to take home. If you analyze this and turn in a report in the next two months, it will be graded by Balaji Padmanabhan, Chair of the ISDS Department. In addition to feedback, you will be given a formal letter of commendation for doing the project which you can use any way you want, including in a college application if applicable.

Target Audience

If you answer "yes" to ALL of the questions below, you should consider the USF MIS boot camp series for high school students that is starting in 2014.

  • Are you currently a junior or senior in high school?
  • Are you interested in a combination of technology and business?
  • Are you considering college degrees that emphasize technology in business?
  • Are you looking to understand your major options in college from some immersive experiences at a research-intensive university?
  • Can you get a ride to come to the USF Tampa campus on a Saturday morning from 9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.?

Why are we doing this?

Governments, businesses and non-profits are very interested in hiring people who understand how technology can be used to improve business performance. The State of Florida has charged the USF ISDS department with a leading role in developing the workforce of the future with these skills in Florida. This exercise is one of our efforts in this direction.

Who will also help?

We have an excellent team of undergraduate and graduate students from the USF MIS (Management Information Systems) program. They are all motivated to make your experience a wonderful one.

Non-English speakers may find the following a better description of what we are trying to do

#usefulskills #collegeexperience #fun #totallyfree #butstillawesome #formalcertificate #useincollegeapp and #maybeevenfreepizza. So please #bringfriends and #joinus!