Algiers' New Technology School Offers Teens Unique Opportunities
Principal hopes many find hig-tech jobs

August 12 , 2007
Brian Friedman
The Times Picayune

When the doors opened Monday for the first-ever day of school at Algiers Technology Academy (formerly Rosenwald Elementary), some students could have mistaken their fresh-faced principal, Henderson Lewis Jr., as one of their own.

Perhaps that's appropriate, as Lewis, 32, is sharing with his incoming classes of ninth- through 12th-graders the experience of starting a school virtually from scratch.

And not just any school. ATA, the newest addition to the Algiers Charter Schools Association, will offer its students the unique opportunity to major in one of three areas: graphics design, computer science or business technology, and will have a choice of electives such as Web mastering or desktop publishing (while also covering the Louisiana comprehensive curriculum as at any other high school).

We're very college-focused, but with a twist to it," said Lewis, "in that we're also allowing the students to learn industry skills, so if they choose not to go to college, they can go straight into the work force and gain employment and actually make a very decent living right out of high school."

Students' exposure to the technology industry will extend beyond the classrooms at ATA, most notably with a trip for 12 deserving students (winners of an upcoming essay contest) to the industry's Mecca -- Silicon Valley, Calif.

The trip, set for Oct. 17 through 20, is the brainchild of Kyle Johnston, a current Tulane Law School student who, while working on a public education survey for the Boston Consulting Group last semester, heard some distressing testimony from parents.

At one meeting in Algiers Point, one father "talked about a lack of inspiration for their kids in schools," said Johnston, "how a lot of them see their friends, and this was terrible, but a lot of them see their friends selling drugs and getting what they want out of life, and it's hard to be inspired in school when all that's going around."

So, on his way out to Silicon Valley for a summer job, Johnston realized that the best way he could help would be to take them with him, so to speak, and to give them an inside look at some of the companies to which young people are naturally drawn, such as video-game giant EA, Facebook.com, and movie giant Dreamworks.

The students also will get a tour of Stanford University's Computer Science Department from the college's Society of Black Scientists and Engineers; they will visit the Technology Museum of Innovation in San Jose; and they'll meet with a group of young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

"For any technology-oriented kid, (Silicon Valley) is like Disneyland," said Johnston, a New Orleans native and LSU graduate.

The entire trip is expected to cost $10,000, and while many local companies and individuals have already contributed, more money is needed. Interested parties should visit www.bringlight.com/projects/show/82 on the Web.

While the Silicon Valley trip will certainly be a memorable experience for those who go, Lewis said he is determined to make sure his students know that "the technology industry is here in New Orleans," he said. "You don't have to leave." Lewis added that he has been communicating with local businesses to form partnerships that would lead to job experience for ATA students.

Despite his young age, Lewis logged 10 years in the education department of his native St. Bernard Parish as a teacher, administrator, and finally curriculum coordinator. He returned to teaching briefly after Hurricane Katrina due to need, and last year he served as assistant principal at Alice Harte Elementary.

And whether by design or not, Lewis appears to have surrounded himself with a faculty of contemporaries.

"I think we have a lot of really great resources, and we're going to be able to provide our students with a really unique education," said Eva Seligman, a freshly minted college graduate who migrated from Maryland with the Teach for America Program, during a break from a video programming software tutorial taught by other faculty members not much older than herself.