Get Real Health, Inc., has donated 80 USB drives to Wheaton High School in Wheaton, Maryland, which will enable students in the school’s Academy of Information Technology to easily transport their work between school and home as well as access their projects from any location.
“Get Real Health is glad to give back to the community in this way, by doing what we can to support the next generation of software developers,” said Mark Heaney, Get Real Health CEO and founding partner.
Students at Wheaton High School’s Academy of Information Technology have struggled with the need to transport code from school to home so they can do more programming work after class, explained Aaron Overton, a former Microsoft program manager and CEO of Rockville, Maryland-based Web design firm Heatherstone, LLC, who teaches IT classes at the school for second, third and fourth-year students.
“We really appreciate Get Real Health’s support,” said Overton. “The Academy of Information Technology here at Wheaton High not only teaches students basic programming skills, but also prepares them to go right into college or a career following graduation thanks to the real-world experience they receive in this program.”
In addition to teaching, Overton also coordinates internships for Wheaton High School. “I invite companies to contact me (the Academy’s phone number is 301-929-2050) if they’d like to donate to the Academy, or if they’re looking for an intern — including in fields other than IT. We would happily place interns at a company anywhere in Montgomery County, especially in the Wheaton/Silver Spring area.”
Overton said the USB drives are being configured now so they can be in students’ hands right away for their classes. He said the Academy has about 120 students total, about 50 of whom will get a flash drive immediately. The other 30 units will be held in reserve.
“Little did I know,” said Heaney, “when my parents bought an Apple ][ computer when I was 13 years old that it would change my life and career trajectory. I was fascinated by the ability to make it do what I wanted by writing simple programs. Twenty years later that interest and learning led to the formation of Get Real Health. I’m honored to pay that opportunity forward to a new generation of programmers.”
CTO and Founding Partner Jason Harmon added, “In my youth I got involved with programming as a hobby during the early years of the personal computer. As limited as computers were in those days, it was the fact that I had access to a computer and programming tools at home (an Atari 800 with only 48K of RAM and a cassette drive) that enabled me to learn and master the skills that built my career in software engineering.”