ICTA, or Information and Communications Technology Academy, was initiated three years ago by Mr. Snell, who explained that ICTA aims to “provide students with a leg up in obtaining a job with the ICT industry employers of the Coachella Valley.” The program teaches students to solve applied problems (“from a program that will figure out your GPA, or a program a Kiosk that can take your food order, or even to solve/graph math problems,” specified Snell) and to design, build, and program robots.

Currently, ICTA is focusing on Programs and System Development by teaching the 23 enrolled students robotics and C language programming. Next year, the focus will shift change toward networking and customer service, where students will learn the program and operating system troubleshooting.

These focuses provide students with the skills necessary to pursue further education in robotics or programming and find entry-level careers in the ICT industry. Snell said that in the future, ICTA hopes to give students the “opportunity to earn industry networking certificates that can be used to obtain entry-level jobs in ICT industry sector.”

Another future goal of ICTA that Snell mentioned is giving students the opportunity to earn college credit by taking the class. ITCA is working with College of the Desert to help make this possible.

ICTA students participate in SkillsUSA technical competitions and UC Davis’ C-STEM Day. Last year, the team took bronze. Most recently, ICTA participated in the SkillsUSA Regional competition against other schools in Southern California, in which Stephanie Vazquez-Muñoz ‘18 won gold. She will be competing in the SkillsUSA State competition this month.

Freshmen students interested in joining the three-year ICT Academy can speak to their counselor and fill out an application.