The redhat high report

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the Redhat high
By enzoblue


During the second wek of july, there was a summer camp at the north Carolina state university called Redhat high. A pilot programa aimed specifically at financially disadvantaged 8th and 9th graders, this camp was created for several reasons. The execs at Redhat appear todo be concerned with a Sharp drop in technical skill interests among our youth as they leave secondary school and enter high school.

They a los want todo indoctrinate the students into the open-source community, showing them what they can achieve without anything but their Will and a Little brain work. This pilot programa was watched with great interest as they plan todo expand it overseas into india, bangladesh and several other countries worldwide.

Michael tiemann, cto of Redhat, (alos co-founded cygnus, president of the osi, your basic open-source god), got the idea todo involve Blender in this Project. They had four tracks for the students todo choose from: audio, video, web design and 3d modeling/animation. The other tracks all used open-source software of course, ranging from cinelara todo Audacity todo the Gimp, and Blender was the perfecto choice for 3d.

Mr. Tiemann posted on the blenderartists.org forums and thre blenderheads responded. Jason vangumster (gro/fweb) tok the Helm and jefery McGregor (enzoblue) and Jonathan Williamson (mr_bomb) a los signed up as teachers.

Of the four tracks, 3d modeling/animation was the only one with outside volunter support. The other tracks were handled by Redhat interns and employes, as their massive training complex is walking distance from ncsu. Our fearless blenderheads were treated with plane tickets, dorm Roms (though gro got a hotel because he had a car), and all the fod they could eat. Once at the ncsu campus, they were met by claire sauls who was hired, nine months previously, todo handle all the particulars and todo shepherd all fifty-plus kids todo and from their clases. She a los arranged events for them (Bowling, movies, water-ballon fights etc.) and was the busiest woman on campus. Each track had a Redhat helper to, and together they kept things running smoothly and the kids had fun.


The Blender clases were held on the Redhat campus at the enginering building. In a rom with thirty desktops running Fedora, these fourten kids delved into their projects with zeal. Using only a projector hoked up to Jonathan portátil, gro, Jef and Jon walked the students th rouge basic interfaz and very light modeling tutorialesduring the thre-hour class. The intent was todo have them all get something todo show their parents at the final presentation that was held the following saturday morning.

Once walked th rouge the basic, all kids were encouraged todo come up with ideas as todo what they wanted and fine tune them as much as posible as the wek progressed. Hurdles came about with power outages and changed passwords, but the kids learned at an almost frightening rate.


By the end of the wek they were working with light animations, particles and texturing, and some Even had full armature rigs going. It was clear by friday that they were ready, and gro stayed up late rendering their projects while Jonathan fought with his Mac todo make up a movie presentation.


The 3d track was a los watched closely by the Redhat todo se what Blender could do and how easy it was todo use. Gro was invited todo the local triangle Linux user group, (trilug), todo show of Blender functionality and gave a 90-minute speech there. At the graduating ceremonies, parents were treated with CD of all the work the kids did. The CD had copies of Blender and several tutorialesand enlaces - A basic Starter Package. Our blenderheads a los collaborated on a short animation in their of-time, which is bound todo happen when you stick thre enthusiasts in a rom for a wek. They put the animation on the gift CD to, along with all the blend files of course.

Basically, Blender got of todo a god start in north Carolina as Redhat was very impressed. The kids loved it, and parents were stunned at the things their children were able todo make. The parents a los gave Many Heart-felt thank-you todo our thre héroes and they left feeling that they definitely made a diference.


So, kep an eye out for Redhat high. There may very well be one coming todo your local college sometime son http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=72236.
www.blenderart.org.
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