ICI Students Earn Gold Badge in Coding through Smart Launch Tech

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Independent Colleges of Indiana and Eleven Fifty Academy partnered again this summer to offer Smart Launch Tech – a coding program for liberal arts students. One hundred percent of the 19 students from 14 private colleges around the state completed the month-long program on June 30, each earning the industry- and state-recognized Gold Badge Certification from Eleven Fifty, headquartered at Launch Fishers.

The students learned the basics of HTML, CSS and Java Script in a four-week boot camp held on the campus of Franklin College during the month of June. They completed assignments demonstrating badge competencies and compiled an e-portfolio, presented at the end of the program. Featured speaker at the Gold Badge award ceremony was Scott Jones, founder of Eleven Fifty and veteran early-stage entrepreneur, inventor, strategist, and venture capitalist.

Back row: Zach Gabbert, Ryan O’Connor, Joey Karczewski, Jack Heim, Tyra Banks, Doryaun Harvey, Madi Brill, Patrick Marsh, Scott Jones

Middle row: Aaron Williamson, Jenn Williams, Chloe Alexander, Joe DeLuna, Kenzie Rudolph, Alexis Meier, Maya Quandt, Jenna Reinhard, Skyler Majors, Carolyn Harris.

Front row: Mia Casas, Cheri Walker-Owen, Maraki Tihtina, Chris Jacobs

In addition to coding, students were exposed to the wide range of career possibilities within the tech field, including project and marketing management, data analysis, compliance, security, and design. Students also traveled to Indianapolis tech businesses including High Alpha, Pattern89, Kinney Group, and One Click. During these visits, they had the chance to speak with company leaders and employees and gain exposure to tech working environments and protocols.

Smart Tech Launch was created to marry the technical skills of coding with the problem-solving approach of a liberal arts education. “Technology alone is not enough,” Apple founder Steve Jobs said. “It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields results that makes our hearts sing.”

Funders for this summer’s program, made available to students free-of-charge, included ICI, a nonprofit association representing the 30 private, nonprofit colleges and universities in the Hoosier state; Eleven Fifty Academy, a nonprofit dedicated to producing technology and talent; and the Council of Independent Colleges through a venture fund grant. Sustainability planning is now underway.

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