![Daniel J. Gross/The Gazette
(From left) Devon Adam, 14, a student at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville; Sierra Sweeney, 10, a student at Mattaponi Elementary School in Upper Marlboro; and Jabari Williams, 13, a student at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville, congratulate themselves Saturday after being announced the winners of a \"Jeopardy!\"-style activity that featured technology-based questions at the Patro-Tech Game Show Summit at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine.](/storyimage/PN/20111120/NEWS/711209985/AR/0/AR-711209985.jpg "Daniel J. Gross/The Gazette
(From left) Devon Adam, 14, a student at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville; Sierra Sweeney, 10, a student at Mattaponi Elementary School in Upper Marlboro; and Jabari Williams, 13, a student at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville, congratulate themselves Saturday after being announced the winners of a \\"Jeopardy!\\"-style activity that featured technology-based questions at the Patro-Tech Game Show Summit at Gwynn Park High School in Brandywine.")
Being first to come up with the answers to questions such as “What year was Facebook founded?” and “What is the most-used search engine?”, Jabari Williams, 13, and his three-person team took first place in a “Jeopardy!”-style game Saturday that focused on popular technology.
“I’m into technology and social networking, so many of those questions were easy to answer,” said Jabari, an eighth-grade student at Ernest Everett Just Middle School in Mitchellville. “Plus I’m very competitive.”
The trivia game was one of several interactive and educational games played by both parents and students at the first Patro-Tech Game Show Summit in southern Prince George’s County at Gwynn Park High School. The summit was hosted by the Patriots Technology Training Center and Prince George’s County Councilman Mel Franklin (D-Dist. 9) of Upper Marlboro to encourage Prince George’s youths to consider going into the “STEM” fields of science, technology, engineering and math, which have become vital to the future of the county and the nation, Franklin said.
The Patriots Technology Training Center is a Capitol Heights-based nonprofit youth empowerment organization that focuses on creating programs and opportunities for county students to gain an interest in the STEM fields.
The six-hour event featured a number of technology and science-related game shows from “Jeopardy!” to “Tech-Feud” to “The Price Is Right,” along with several presentations from technology-based companies that were event co-sponsors.
Families also gained information from various local organizations such as the University System of Maryland, the Air Force ROTC and Iron Bow Technologies, who were there to promote future technology or science opportunities.
About 165 students and 75 parents came out to the event, which PTTC president Thurman Jones said was a successful turnout.
Upper Marlboro resident James Hawkins Sr. said he came to the event to see what types of opportunities are available for his 13-year-old son. He said he wants his son to learn more about technology.
“I’m not sure what I want to do when I get older, but I’m pretty good at math and science, so this could be something I could do,” said Hawkins’ son, James Hawkins, Jr., an eighth-grade student at Calverton School in Huntington.
Jones said there are not a lot of STEM-related programs and opportunities in southern Prince George’s County, and he hoped the event helped expose middle- and high school-aged youths to careers in areas such as cyber security, social media and computer engineering.
Franklin said he is hoping to turn the Patro-Tech game show summit into an annual event.
“We want to look at what we did this year and continue to make it bigger and better every year,” Franklin said.
djgross@gazette.net
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