CSI Companies is founded on creating meaningful relationships and investing in our surrounding communities. We pride ourselves not only in providing our clients with qualified talent, but mentoring candidates to become desirable professionals in the market.
One of our most recent initiatives includes partnering with Andrew Jackson High School (AJHS), one of the oldest fully accredited high schools in Duval County, Florida. Located north of downtown, and named after U.S. President Andrew Jackson, AJHS has been in existence for nearly a century.
The collaboration involved restoring the school’s library into an innovative IT lab, providing students with the resources and experiences necessary to develop IT skills. On top of renovating Andrew Jackson’s lab, CSI has selected five students, who were named “The Jackson Five,” to mentor through high school, college, and eventually the CSI Connect internship program.
CSI Companies’ Internship Manager, Dominique Carter, believes CSI and AJHS are the perfect match. “The partnership is so vital to developing a pipeline of IT professionals for the future. Our support doesn’t stop at graduation, we want to encourage them to major in IT, offer internships, and support them in choosing full-time careers within the industry,” she said.
The CSI IT team has begun presenting bi-weekly workshops in the lab, introducing students to the idea of technology and the possibilities within the industry. The first week’s workshop was presented by CSI’s Security Administrator, Dustin Thomas. He shared his interests in cybersecurity, how he furthered his skills while serving in the military, and his experience entering the corporate world. Dustin also revealed exciting news about Tynker, an educational programming platform designed to help children learn the fundamentals of coding. CSI is providing a group of AJHS students with free memberships to the platform.
“I believe Tynker’s learning management system provides an interactive graphic user interface paired with iterative python education. I hope the program provides familiarity with the IT community,” Dustin said.
CSI Companies will be hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony on February 24th from 1-2:30 pm at Andrew Jackson High School in celebration of the new lab. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by sending an email to eshinavski@csicompanies.com.
