On Saturday, June 6, 2020, 46 high school students were honored for completing DoIT Academic Technology’s Information Technology Academy (ITA). Twenty-three ITA graduates will matriculate at UW-Madison in fall 2020. Three graduates will be attending Madison College with the intent to transfer to UW-Madison later. Three students have chosen to do a gap year and the remaining 17 will be attending colleges in the UW System and around the country.
The 2020 ITA graduation celebration was held via YouTube; If you missed the livestream event, you can see the recording on our YouTube channel here. Chancellor Blank recorded a congratulatory message for ITA graduates, marking the first time that a UW-Madison Chancellor has participated in an ITA graduation.
Joselyn Diaz-Valdes, senior advisory from the UW-Madison Office of Financial Aid delivered the keynote address at the graduation event. ITA alumnus and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development attorney, Rosylynn Pedracine delivered remarks on behalf of the ITA Advisory Board.
As usual, three ITA Legacy of Excellence Awards were given, one for each ITA program site. Students from each program site are selected for the Legacy of Excellence Award based on their commitment, scholarship, leadership, and personal growth. Hunter Kanzelberger from ITA Lac du Flambeau, Sri Marada from ITA Oneida, and Jeremyah Williams from ITA Madison were celebrated as this year’s honorees. In addition to their certificates, each awardee received an iPad thanks to major program sponsor American Family Insurance. Hunter is attending North Central Technical College and already has a full time information technology job in Wausau, and Sri and Jeremyah will be enrolled at UW-Madison as PEOPLE College Scholars this fall.
Thanks to the entire ITA staff for contributing to all this success! Special shoutout to Bobbi Skenandore for organizing the event. ITA congratulates all 2020 graduates and wishes them continued success in their academics.