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Congratulations and a shout out to Jamie Thomas
for first place winning prize of $10,000 in the Black College Expo Essay Contest held in Los Angeles, California. The Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) family is proud of you.
Jamie Thomas is a senior at John F. Kennedy High school. She is the eldest daughter of James and Billie Thomas and the sister of Debi Thomas. Jamie also serves as the Youth President of the ASCAC Western Region. She is on the honor roll, a National Achievement finalist, a prolific writer, outstanding orator, a Queen in Training, band member, and plays classical piano. Her love of life and family brings joy to all who meet her as she is a living model of ASCAC's youth and the recipient of the intergenerational transmission of wisdom.
Jamie's Award Winning Essay:
Jamie A. Thomas
School: John F. Kennedy High School
My Dream for Blacks in Technology
My dream is for African-Americans to harness our great historic potential of invention and innovation to create and access technology throughout our community as well as the world. In my dreams I have a powerful idea; African-Americans are fully integrated into all aspects of technology, creating tools that will further knowledge, stimulate research, and lead us all further into the 21st century.
In actuality, this should be no dream. When you think about it, technology is not unfamiliar to Africans. Africans were the first people on the planet to dream of creating and using technology. Remember the manual computer that was found off the African coast by archaeologist, or the 77,000 year old geometric carvings and intricate tools found in a limestone cave in South Africa? Clearly that was the best technology of the time and today’s African-Americans live in the wake of this legacy. The call for the real McCoy was the affirmation of Black integrity in invention. In 1896, C.B. Brooks invented the streetsweeper, and it was Garrett A. Morgan who set the standard by inventing the electric traffic light and the gas mask. And more recently, astronautical engineer George Carruthers created the technology for the camera that was carried to the moon on Apollo 16. All told, this is quite a remarkable history.
Statistics tell us that though African-Americans are gaining, we are still far behind other groups in accessing and learning how to use technology. For most people the acquisition of these skills starts in school. But that is happening at a pace much slower than most of us would like to see. I guess one might classify me as a statistic. Computer technology at my elementary school was limited to a PC in the principal’s office. I count myself as very fortunate. A volunteer from the technology industry came to our church one Sunday and asked for young people who were interested in learning to work with computers to meet with him after church. I quickly volunteered, and out of the group, I was among three selected to demonstrate how to build a computer at the LA Black Expo. This was one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life and the beginning of a lifelong journey to take advantage of the technology. People were duly impressed to see us youngsters build our computers, fire them up, and take them apart for another demonstration.
After this event the program disappeared from my church but the training did not disappear from my life. As I think back, the program served its purpose well and showed that African-Americans, young ones in particular, could learn to use computer technology. This all occurred when I was ten years old. I am now seventeen and have greatly benefited from the routine use of technology in my life. Today, I realize that my dream for Blacks in technology is attainable, and I understand that by unleashing African-American creativity the whole world stands to gain.
JAMIE THOMAS
Jamie Thomas is graduating from Washington University in St. Louis.
We are proud of this young scholar and THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR SUPPORT OVER THE YEARS.
Good News: Jamie graduates May 17-19, 2006 from Washington University in St Louis and has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Malaysia. She has also received a Fulbright-Hays Scholarship to do intensive language study in Tanzania. Her schedule is full, but she is excited and continues to need your constant prayers and loving support.
Also, Jamie has been selected by the faculty of the Department of Anthropology as the recipient of an award for academic excellence in anthropology. "This accomplishment reflects Jamie's scholarly ability and commitment to the field of anthropology, and we are very proud of the record she has achieved in our department." We cordially invite you and your family to join us at a recognition ceremony at 4:00 PM on Wednesday, May 17, 2006 in Lab Sciences Auditorium with a reception following.
Go Jamie!!! The ASCAC family is proud of you……
