Lynchburg College sorority plans to teach tech skills to workers

By Bryan Gentry
Lynchburg News & Advance
Published: April 25, 2008

A small sorority at Lynchburg College is reaching out to help people in the community grasp technology and use it for career and educational development.

On Saturday, sorority members are launching a program they hope will meet monthly to teach skills such as typing a résumé and sending text messages.

Alpha Kappa Alpha, a service-centered sorority with a historically black membership, has identified technology education as a national initiative.

Sheena Posey, president of the Omicron Sigma chapter at Lynchburg College, said the elderly and at-risk youth especially don’t have the technology skills they need.

Posey began meeting with college administrators last year to get approval to sponsor the program on campus.

At that time, the sorority had only two members, said Kimberly Anderson, the sorority’s graduate adviser.

Since then, membership has grown to six students.

The first program will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in a basement computer lab in Hobbs Hall.

Chapter vice president Ashley Payne will teach people how to use a computer to prepare a résumé.

Later this year, Payne and Posey hope to host programs monthly. The classes will cover topics such as protecting personal information on the Internet, using the Web to search for jobs, and using cell phones.

Their main goal is to reach out to “senior citizens and youth who might not have access to computers on a regular basis,” but everyone is welcome, Payne said.

They recently met with the Alpha Kappa Alpha’s graduate sorority in Lynchburg to show its members what the program would be like.

Robin Ferguson, president of the graduate chapter, said the younger sorority members taught her and other graduates how to send text messages and use digital cameras.

“A lot of us, of course, know some of the basics, but a lot of us do not,” Ferguson said.

If you’re going
- What: Technology education program
- Where: Lynchburg College, Hobbs Hall room 124
- When: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday
- RSVP: (434) 544-5577