Computer Information Technology (CIT) students at Chattanooga State Community College kicked off the semester engaged in fun, new activities developed by Savitha PInnepalli, CIT department head; Randy Ricketson, assistant professor of networking; and members of the IT Hub Club.

Students in Ms. Pinnepalli College Success Information Systems class conducted a team building activity making ice cream using heavy cream, light cream, and fruit juices. “Not only did students learn how to plan and budget for ingredients to make ice cream, but they enacted the roles of both manager and worker to make ice cream from scratch,” stated Pinnepalli. To further enhance learning and build rapport, students brainstormed ice cream trade names and pitched their advertising slogans to the class. Hypothetical ice cream trade names created included “Iced Everest,” “Ginger Vanilla,” “Peach Dream,” and “Very Berry.”

In addition to the team-building activity, the College Success class also welcomed Evan Bissonette, director of Growth Team at StratusGrid, a cloud-native IT and DevOps company, who discussed the importance of learning “soft skills” in today’s IT world. “Soft skills include a combination of people, social and communication skills, character or personality traits, attitudes, social intelligence to enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people,” explained Bissonette.

ChattState’s IT Hub Club hosted club members from CyberEagles and Women in CyberSecurity (WiCys) through Tennessee Tech’s Cybersecurity Education, Research and Outreach Center (CEROC) to learn more about Tennessee Tech’s engineering education and computer science programs.

Dee Zhao, Mimi Vertrees, and Kaitlyn Carroll, representatives from Tennessee Tech’s Cyber Eagles and WiCys, conversed with Chattanooga State IT students and faculty about CyberCorps SFS, a cybersecurity program, scholarships, and networking opportunities for transfer students. Members in cyber also shared exciting competition opportunities such as Capture the Flag, Cyber Range, National Cyber League, PicoCTF, CTFtime, Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, HiveStorm, CyberForce, Collegiate Penetration Testing, and Hack the Box.

Randy Ricketson, assistant professor of networking, discussed Chattanooga State’s on-campus networking lab and equipment available to students. This event was organized by the newly elected IT HUB Club officers: Jonathan Rogers, president; Kenneth Coleman, vice president; Mason Taylor, secretary; and Joshua Ely, treasurer.

For more information about Chattanooga State computer science programs, contact Savitha Pinnepalli, at (423) 697-4756 or email Savitha.pinnepalli@chattanoogastate.edu.