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Ms. Kit Becnel
1978
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Work:
Lafayette Parish School System
721 Butcher Switch W.
Lafayette, LA 70507
kabecnel@lpssonline.com
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Work Phone:
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337-896-6675
337-896-7592
KABecnel@LPSSonline.com |
LPB show to profile Carencro program
By MARSHA SILLS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Nov 6, 2009
LAFAYETTE " Students involved in Carencro High’s Academy of Information Technology will be featured in an upcoming edition of “Louisiana Public Square,” a monthly public forum produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
LPB visited the academy this week to interview students and teachers about the academy program, said Kit Becnel, academy director.
It offers students hands-on experience and internships with businesses in the community.
The academy has joined with LPB, Lafayette Utilities System, the LITE Center and the school district’s information technology department for a project called Fiber Kids.
The project encourages students in the academy to explore the uses of fiber technology in the classroom.
“We’re really excited to be highlighted as part of this technology segment,” Becnel said. “We’re grooming our students for a work force to stay here locally in Lafayette.”
The academy is hooked into the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, a fiber-optic network that connects research institutions across the state to a national network, the National LambdaRail.
There’s a movement to make similar connections with other kindergarten through 12th-grade schools in the state, according to Randy Ward, director of engineering at LPB.
“The wonder of that would be that the schools could communicate with one another without having to go through the Internet,” Ward said.
The LPB show will focus on technology and explore the status of technology in the state.
It was taped at the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise Center for a 7 p.m. Nov. 25 broadcast on LPB and participating public radio stations. The show airs locally on LPB and radio station KRVS FM-88.7.
According to the Public Square Web site, other confirmed guests for the technology segment include University of Louisiana at Lafayette economics Professor Anthony Greco; Curt Eysink, executive director of the Louisiana Workforce Commission; Jacqueline Beauchamp, chief executive officer and co-founder of Nergyzed Entertainment; and Joaquin Alvarado, senior vice president for diversity and innovation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Students will take part in the panel discussion from the classroom via the academy’s fiber optic link to the LITE Center, Becnel said.
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Academy offers options
Tina Marie Macias • tmacias@theadvertiser.com • October 17, 2009
Each school day is entrenched in technology for academy students at Carencro High School.
Creating a video to go along with an English project while learning the basics of Web design and digital animation is a normal day for a sophomore in the Academy of Information Technology.
The academy has been called one of the top academies in the National Academy Foundation and hosted other foundations last week to share its successes.
Although the academy requires students to complete extra work, they said they love working with technology.
"I like Photoshop and PowerPoint, and we just do a lot of fun things with software," 10th-grader Ian James said. James was set to attend Northside High School but chose Carencro for the academy program.
Other students said they like the people and appreciate that they attend classes with the same students most of the time.
"It feels like a small school," sophomore Loreaelle Linton said. "It's like a school within a school."
By the time an academy student graduates from Carencro High School, they could have mastered video-game production and Web design, as well as earned A+ and NET+ computer certifications.
Along with video game technology and Web mastering, academy students are dabbling in something new this year: fiber-optic technology.
The academy partnered with Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, or the LITE Center, Lafayette Utilities System and Louisiana Public Broadcasting for the project.
The students are testing the ways greater bandwidth offered by fiber can improve learning, Carencro High School Principal Annette Samec said at a Lafayette Parish School Board meeting last week.
Faster streaming video and online classrooms are just a few of the enhancements of fiber-optic technology that eventually could be offered in other schools and classrooms through the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative and the National Lambda Rail.
As a part of the academy program, students are expected to participate in a paid internship in the summer after their junior year.
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Students lead fiber optic work
Carencro academy showcases program
By MARSHA SILLS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Oct 15, 2009
CARENCRO � High-speed fiber optic technology offers a new frontier in computing. Among the explorers: students at Carencro High School�s Academy of Information Technology.
�The increase in speed and quality will revolutionize everything we do in the classroom,� said Elijah Parker, 17, a junior at Carencro.
Parker is among the students in the academy being groomed by local tech professionals to use fiber technology through a project called FiberKids.
The project is a partnership among Carencro High and its academy, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise, the school system�s information technology department, Lafayette Utilities System and Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
As part of the project, students are exploring the ways the greater bandwidth can enhance learning.
The possibilities are endless: live streaming high-definition video for school conferences, lessons taught by experts and virtual field trips.
�That�s just the beginning,� said Kit Becnel, director of the Academy of Information Technology at Carencro High.
�It levels the playing field; we can be in a big city or a rural area like Carencro and have the same opportunities,� Becnel said.
The academy is tapped into the fiber network via the LITE Center.
Across the state, research centers, such as LITE, and universities are connected to the statewide fiber optic network known as the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative.
The network initiative is part of a larger network, called the National Lambda Rail, that connects research institutions across the country to the network.
And Carencro High is tapped into it. The work under way is the first step in a long-term goal to connect every K-12 school in the state to the network, said Randy Ward, director of engineering at LPB.
Ward said the Louisiana Broadband Alliance has submitted a $7.2 billion federal grant application that could help make it happen.
Now, low bandwidth available at schools limits teachers� access to videos available for instructional purposes from LPB, Ward said.
And access to live events is hit-and-miss, he added.
�Connectivity is key. We have to have schools connected to the backbone to appreciate the services.�
The project has the attention of Joaquin Alvarado, the senior vice president of diversity and innovation for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
He attended the Lafayette Parish School Board meeting to commend the effort.
Alvarado was familiar with the project through his previ-ous position with the National Public Lightpath initiative.
Its goal is to connect public media, education, and technology sectors into a national fiber optic network.
The area is a leader in the next generation of technology, Alvarado told the board.
�We�re starting to see a surge in key communities that are not waiting for innovation to occur. They�re making it happen,� Alvarado said Tuesday.
While adults work on the infrastructure issues, students are focusing on learning new software to enhance creation of content for their peers.
Over the summer two academy seniors, Tim Treuil and Aaron Touchet, both 17, interned at LITE and impressed the staff with their skills on Maya, 3-D modeling software.
They created a 3D data set that recreated a hot air balloon ride experience for the LITE Center�s six-sided visualization cube.
The cube enables researchers to immerse themselves in data.
The students� program offered a hot air balloon ride over hills and houses they created.
�They did the project in three weeks. That�s pretty impressive in the grand scheme,� said Marty Altman, chief creative officer for LITE.
The two seniors played down their skills on the software while working on another 3D project to show at the school district�s Fall Frenzy on Nov. 7, the showcase of all the schools of choice programs.
As the students help the adults prepare for the possibilities fiber will offer students, they�re preparing for their own future, Altman said.
�If kids are learning how to create content, they�re learning how to communicate with each other and collaboration skills,� Altman said.
�They�re having to hit a deadline and deliver a piece of content. That�s a huge step up no matter where they go or what they do.�
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By MARSHA SILLS
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Oct 2, 2009
LAFAYETTE � Carencro High�s Academy of Information Technology will showcase its program and community partnerships next week during a workshop for other career-based academies across the United States.
Carencro High�s academy was selected by the National Academy Foundation, a consortium of the 500 career-themed academies, to host an ASPIRE Design workshop Oct. 6 through Oct. 8.
The academy�s innovative partnerships with parents and businesses piqued the interest of the National Academy Foundation, said Patti Smith, senior director of network services for the foundation.
�They do an excellent job of engaging their community. It�s something that we want the rest of our network to be able to know about,� Smith said.
Academy staff, advisory boards and businesses associated with academies in San Francisco, Miami, New York, Waco, Texas, and Apex, N.C., have also been invited to the workshop.
Each academy will have an opportunity to learn from each other�s best practices, Smith said.
The academy model provides students with industry-vetted curriculum, but internships and work-based learning experiences are imperative to a student�s success, Smith said.
�We know that we can only do these things when we have a strong connection to the community outside the school,� Smith said.
Carencro�s Academy of Information Technology boasts a 100 percent placement for its students in paid internships, said Kit Becnel, the academy�s director.
The record is �unheard of, especially during these economic times,� Becnel said.
�We have no agency helping us with placement. It�s the community: parents, advisory board, parents, students, faculty,� she said.
Those strategies will be shared during the workshop.
�ASPIRE really encourages high-performance leadership and leading us to the next level,� Becnel said.
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Women Who Mean Business - Kit Becnel, Volleyball 1973 - Honored
Auguest 26, 2009
Women Who Mean Business
Mothers, daughters, friends, wives, entrepreneurs, teachers, community activists, role models. This year's group of WWMB honorees and Trailblazers embody the best of Acadiana.
Kit Becnel
When the Ford Foundation visited Lafayette and the LITE Center last October, it was blown away by a presentation from a Carencro High faculty member so much that it views Carencro High as a possible recipient for funding based on the work of its computer and business program.
That program is the Academy of Information Technology, and that faculty member is Kit Becnel, its director.
Becnel, a Destrehan High grad, moved to Lafayette in 1973 to attend USL (now UL Lafayette) and never really left. With a bachelor�s degree in business education, a computer literacy certification, teaching experience in the area and a lifetime of computer and business experience, Becnel has spent most of her life immersing herself in the framework and infrastructure of the business world here in Lafayette. So it was no surprise when then-Carencro High Principal Don Aguillard and Assistant Principal Annette Samec asked Becnel to become the director of the AOIT in November 2003.
She spent the rest of the �03-�04 school year planning the program, which included having AOIT join the National Academy Foundation, which helps build career academies in several fields that include finance, engineering and hospitality/tourism; there are more than 550 such specialized academies nationwide. In its six years of existence the local academy has garnered numerous accolades. On top of winning the prestigious Aldo Papone award for high school reform, one of six given nationwide, and the ASPIRE Cohort award, one of 24 awarded nationwide, both in 2007, the AOIT under Becnel has a perfect 100 percent placement rate in its internship program. Now that�s unheard of.
The IT paid internships happen between the students� junior and senior year, when they work 180 hours at their designated business. Becnel, with the help of her advisory board, parents and others, places the interns herself, unlike other academies that have agencies handling that task. When you can have up to 75 students to place, that can be massive undertaking.
In October, Becnel and the rest of the academy will host the ASPIRE Design Showcase, where other academies will come in to view and critique the work they are doing, to help move the program forward. The NAF thinks so highly of Becnel that its director personally invited her to the Bay Area Video Coalition in San Francisco in early March to attend a design showcase in anticipation of her showcase.
�I really think that by today�s standards, watching how I can help mold and shape tomorrow�s workforce gives me great pleasure,� Becnel says.
By The Independent Staff
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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Obituary
Beatrice "Sis" Lehmann Becnel
March 31, 1924 - July 21, 2009
NORCO - , 85, died Tuesday, July 21, 2009.
She is survived by one son and daughter-in-law, James Craig Becnel and Catherine Ory Becnel; two daughters and one son-in-law, Beatrice Chris Becnel Pratt and Douglas Anthony Pratt, and Kit Anne Becnel; four grandchildren, Celeste Ann Bourdonnay, Bridget Catherine Lee, Jared James Becnel, and Chea Michelle Matherne; two great grandchildren Hanna Ren� Bourdonnay and Caleb Anthony Lee.
Preceded in death by her husband of 64 years and 11 months, John Clarence "Lut" Becnel; and her parents Bryan Joseph Lehmann Sr. and Beatrice Thelma Dibos Lehmann.
She attended a business school in New Orleans and was an All-State basketball player. Beatrice was a loving wife, devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was a member of the Bayou Retiree Campers who loved traveling. She was an excellent cook and strong in her religious beliefs.
Special thanks to Family Home Health Care, all the doctors and nurses of Kenner Regional-Oschner Hospital and Joyce Jones.
Visitation will be held Saturday, July 25, 2009 from 9 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church 401 Spruce Street, Norco, LA 70079 Funeral Mass following at 11:30 a.m. Entombment will follow in St. Charles Borromeo Mausoleum, Destrehan, LA.
H.C. Alexander Funeral Home of Norco in charge of funeral arrangements.
Published on July 24, 2009.
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April 22, 2009 12:25 PM
Witnessing the Future of Education in Lafayette
Writing from Lafayette, LA, over the last few days I've witnessed an amazing confluence of events that suggest the future of education is being built down here in Cajun country.
Moving forward in my trip to last night I had the good fortune to be invited by Kit Becnel to attend an experiment in using online technologies to connect students on different sides of the country.
The setup was at a local public library, with cameras on the students in Lafayette and a screen showing video from students in San Francisco.
The application they used was called Vievo, which enabled both videoconferencing as well as the ability to view what was playing on computer screens remotely.
The agenda started with the San Francisco kids taking turns showcasing the work they've done creating 3D models using software called Cinema4D. The two projects they'd worked on were first a short animation of moving text that said, "My name is X, and in ten years I want to be a Y." The other project was to create what they think their bedroom would look like in 10 years.
Their teacher stressed that the students built all their 3D models from scratch, and there was some really impressive work going on in there.
Then on the Lafayette side they showed off the Metaplace world that one of Kit's students had helped create at the previous week's Digital Workforce Conference.
Throughout the students were asking each other questions.
This experiment really started showing the potential of what's possible by establishing collaborative relationships between classes in different cities. I could see the students on both sides being not just intrigued but also inspired by the work their counterparts had done.
That being said, I should also admit that this experiment also highlighted how far we still have to go to make this a reality. For example, despite both endpoints having lots of bandwidth, at some point out on the Internet the stream was getting choked causing some significant issues with the video stream. And both sides experienced local technical issues that caused the stream to break.
Luckily Kit had some great help from Kris Wotipka, who volunteers his time and technical expertise to the FiberKids project, and Adam Melancon, Lafayette's library system network guru. So these were only minor bumps, and overall I think everyone involved felt like this was a really positive first step towards establishing a collaborative relationship between these classes using fiber networks.
As a quick reminder, the FiberKids initiative has grown out of Kit Becnel's Academy of Information Technology program at Carencro High School, and it's setting out to enable a framework through which Lafayette students can become a testing ground for educational applications, in particular those that leverage the capacity of their fiber network. It's a tremendous program with unlimited potential, and you can look forward to hearing a lot more about that in the near future.
To that end, while I can't provide all the details as of yet, I can say that the final big event regarding the future of education being built here in Lafayette was a presentation and discussion I was able to participate in earlier on Tuesday about establishing a series of pilots in Lafayette to showcase a new model for 21st century classrooms that leverage the capacity of fiber networks.
I'm not yet at liberty to go into more details about this initiative, but do know that there's some significant energy behind doing this, that it should be moving within the next few months, and that it's not just going to involve Lafayette but also a global network of classrooms. I wish I could say more, but you'll just have to wait a little bit longer.
Until then, know this: the future of education's being built in Lafayette, LA.
That future means a world where students aren't limited to what's in textbooks, where they can collaborate not just with their classmates but with their peers around the world, where they're able to not just regurgitate data points but synthesize and create new things, where the technologies that capture their attention out in the world are brought into their classroom to facilitate teaching that's more interactive and engaging.
It's a future that won't be easy to achieve and still requires a lot of work, but fixing our education system is a challenge that we should all want to see tackled. And I know I for one am going to be doing what I can to help Lafayette and other communities bring about this new paradigm in how we educate future generations.
Posted by Geoff Daily, writer from Washington D.C., on April 22, 2009 12:25 PM
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John Becnel's Obituary: Father of Chris & Kit Becnel
John Becnel
NORCO, La. - John Clarence "Lut" Becnel, 85, passed away Monday, Dec. 24, 2007, in Metairie, La.
He is survived by his wife, Beatrice "Sis" Lehmann Becnel; one son and daughter-in-law, James Craig Becnel and Catherine Ory Becnel; two daughters and one son-in-law Beatrice Chris Becnel and Douglas Anthony Pratt and Kit Anne Becnel; two brothers, Joseph Sydney Becnel Jr. and Peter Harry Becnel; three sisters, Grace Marie Keller, Theresa Marie Weber, and Mary Ann Braud; four grandchildren, Celeste Ann Bourdonnay, Bridget Catherine Lee, Jared James Becnel, and Chea Michelle Matherne; two great-grandchildren, Hanna Rene' Bourdonnay and Kaleb Anthony Lee.
Preceded in death by his parents, Joseph Sydney Becnel Sr. and Marie Bossier Becnel; two sisters; and three brothers.
A graduate of Destrehan High School and Delgado Community College. A U. S. Air Force Veteran of WWII, a sargent of 737th Air Material Squardron, 9th - Airforce. His tour bringing him through Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He received the ATO Medal, EAMETO Medal, Good Conduct Medal, and WWII Victory Medal. A Past-Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus St. Charles Parish Council, former Fire Chief of St. Charles Parish, community volunteer, retired employee of Shell Oil Refinery with 42 1/2 years of service, a member of Bayou Campers 1972-2007, and a loving father and devoted husband.
Visitation will be Friday, Dec. 28, 2007, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Norco, La. from 9:30 a.m. until Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m.
Entombment will follow in St. Charles Borromeo Mausoleum, Destrehan, La.
H. C. Alexander Funeral Home of Norco is in charge of arrangements.
Published on December 27, 2007.
Athletic Network Footnote: John is the Father of Chris (Sweethearts Dance Team) and Kit (Volleyball).
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Academy earns national buzz
Amanda Bedgood
abedgood@theadvertiser.com
October 3, 2007
The Academy of Information Technology at Carencro High School has become a model for schools across the country and could be chosen as one of 20 campuses in the country for a special study.
Studies like the one AOIT is up for and the evidence it could provide can influence policy and legislation as Congress looks to renew the No Child Left Behind Act.
Members of the National Academy Foundation, of which AOIT is a member, and a nonprofit research and policy organization called MDRC, toured the Carencro High School campus Tuesday to see what the school is doing that works and to see what the school can do to improve.
"We know this is a good academy. How do we make them really great?" said a project director for the National Academy Foundation, Jon Reinhard.
Janet Quint, a senior research associate with MDRC, met with students and teachers Tuesday. She works to identify strong schools and make them even stronger using research. The proposed project will track students in and out of the academy for four years.
"We can then understand the difference that investing in an academy makes in improving students outcome," she said.
Two things that could improve the future for students are academies and smaller learning communities, according to national and state level conversations about how to better reach students.
The Academy is both. Both are concepts that are cropping up in national education talks as the renewal of NCLB nears and in Louisiana as the state works to revamp high schools to make them more relevant, keep kids in school and prepare them for the future.
Academies are themed schools - like Schools of Choice in Lafayette Parish -which center around special interests in the hope of keeping kids in school and successful by integrating something in which they are interested into all parts of their curriculum and giving them tools for higher education or the workplace.
Students are getting that workplace experience before they graduate from high school with an internship program that is part of their curriculum.
Fast facts
The first academy from the National Academy Foundation was founded in 1982 in New York City.
This year will be the first graduating class that attended the Academy of Information Technology at Carencro High School for four years.
There are more than 510 schools in the National Academy Foundation. Three of them are in Lafayette Parish: AOIT, Academy of Finance at Acadiana High School and the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism at the W.D. Smith Career Center.
The National Academy Foundation is in the process of adding engineering to their group of academies, which could later produce a partnership with Northside High School's Academy of Engineering.
A closer look
What does the NAF offer academies?
Strong partnerships with local business, community leaders and Academy parents
Motivated students who know that the Academy prepares them for college and for their careers
Industry training for teachers and students
Involvement in the NAF National Network, and access to a national network of committed education and community leaders
Ongoing support for each NAF course, as well as help with advisory board and internship development
A vehicle for whole-school reform: many district leaders have restructured their schools around career themes, using the NAF Academy as a model.
Daily Advertiser, October 3, 2007
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2theadvocate > News Font size: S M L
Carencro High may join research
By PATRICK COURREGES
Advocate Acadiana bureau
Published: Oct 3, 2007 - Page: 1BA
CARENCRO � Carencro High School�s information technology academy � already having gained national recognition this year � hosted a team from the National Academy Foundation in town to evaluate the school for participation in a model school research project.
Rebecca Privett, central regional manager for the foundation, said Tuesday that the two day visit by officials with the group was to size up the academy for inclusion in a multiyear study on such academies and how best to make use of their practices to prepare students for careers.
Privett said a key part of the foundation�s model is making use of an advisory board made up of members of the business community to help guide the academies in teaching students the skills companies will need.
She said that of the 520-plus academies the New York-headquartered foundation works with across the country, Carencro High was one of 24 to make the short list prior, with a final cut down to 20 schools for the study yet to come.
Privett said the main purpose of the trip to Lafayette Parish was to have a good look at the students, teachers and methods the school uses in following the foundation�s academy model in preparation for possible recommendation for the research project.
She said Carencro High has already proven itself noteworthy, having won the foundation�s Aldo Papone Leadership Award for high performance.
�They are definitely doing a good job,� Privett said.
She said the support for the academy�s mission is evident from the district level to the administrators of the school.
�They definitely have the staff in place and have the vision and are headed in the right direction to be a model academy,� Privett said.
Kit Becnel, director of Carencro High�s information technology academy, said Tuesday that the foundation�s consideration will add to the national name recognition the school has already received from its performance award.
She said the information the academy receives from the current process will help make a strong program even stronger.
�We will take it now to the next level,� Becnel said.
Morning Advocate, October 3, 2007
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Kit Becnel's daughter Chea is special graduate at Tulane University, May, 2007
Tulane University Graduate �07, Chea Matherne,
Receives Exclusive Top Senior Honor Awards from both The Murphy Institute
and the A. B. Freeman School of Business
Chea Matherne received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the Murphy Institute, Tulane University, and received her Bachelor of Science in Management from the A. B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University on May 19, 2007. Matherne received the exclusive top senior award The Charles H. Murphy Prize �Outstanding Student for Political Economy� honored for superlative records of academic achievement, scholarship, leadership and commitment to academic integrity from The Murphy Institute, Tulane University. Also, she graduated with Mortar Board Honors. In addition, Chea received the A. B. Freeman School of Business exclusive top senior award the Tulane Association of Business Alumni Award, in the opinion of the dean, the administrative staff, and the officers of the Tulane Association of Business Alumni, displayed exceptional intellectual ability, leadership, self-motivation and a sense of responsibility to peers, the school and the community. She received the TABA Community Service Award and graduated Magna Cum Laude with Beta Gamma Sigma National Scholastic Honors for academic performance and to those selected students who demonstrated the greatest promise in their future careers. Chea Michelle Matherne is the daughter of Kit Becnel and Lee Matherne Jr. In the fall, she will attend DePaul University�s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business in Chicago to receive her degree in Master of Accountancy.
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Former Volleyball: Carencro High School's Academy of Information Technology honored
Progressive program plans to graduate first class in spring 2008
By Jefferson Hennessy
timesedit@timesofacadiana.com
August 16, 2007
In mid-July, Carencro High School's Academy of Information Technology Director Kit Becnel and Co-Director Joel Hilbun traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Academy Foundation Summer Conference workshops and present technology created by their students.
At the conference, Becnel and Hilbun were awarded the Aldo Propone Award for Leadership in Academy Performance, which recognizes excellence among schools considered to be on the cutting edge of high school curriculum reform.
Initially, the idea to create the Academy of Information Technology -- a school within a school -- for each Lafayette Parish high school was recommended by Burnell Lemoine, the current acting superintendent of Lafayette Parish, and Burnell Lejeun, career and technical education instructional supervisor.
"We'd been looking at creating academies in our schools for years," says Lemoine. "Both Kit and Joel had a background and interest in technology, so that's why we approached them about starting an information technology academy at Carencro. And today it's terrific to see the amount of work they've done. The potential for their students and this community is incredible."
"Our initial challenge," says Becnel, "is that we had to sit down and write a framework for something we were unfamiliar with. The NAF gave us guidelines, but they want you to create your own unique program. We had to envision what we wanted -- which books, software, hardware, how do we let people know about it, and how to get the funding. There were many dedicated hours asking lots of questions. We started from ground zero in fall of 2002."
Even with the encouragement of the NAF, it took a full year for Becnel and Hilbun to put together what they believed would be a successful technology academy program that would be fully funded, meet all NAF curriculum requirements, and be supported by parents and the local business community.
As a direct result of their hard work, the first 75 freshman Academy of Information Technology students who launched the program in the fall of 2003, will graduate in the spring of 2008. These initial 75 have experienced what has become a celebrated odyssey toward fulfilling a challenging four-year program in the study of networking, computer hardware, digital media, programming, database and web design.
With their first graduating class scheduled to be released into the competitive world of information technology this spring, Becnel and Hilbun plan to offer more certification opportunities that will allow their students to choose a profitable path to success right out of high school.
"Our emphasis this year," says Hilbun, "will be more industry-based certification opportunities so they can go straight into industry work, or to higher education. They will have the option. We want them to be able to use what they know to start earning money right out of high school."
The Times of Acadiana, August 16, 2007
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From the College Notebook of the Daily Advertiser, August 20, 2006.
Chea Michelle Matherne was initiated into the Mortar Board National College Senior Honor Society at Tulane University's Newcomb College this past spring semester.
Matherne is in the honors program at Tulane and is majoring in political economy and accounting.
She is also the recipient of the university's Zide Chalker Cole Benedict Scholarship.
She plans to attend law school next fall.
She is the daughter of Kit Becnel and Lee Matherne Jr. and was a graduate of St. Thomas More High School.
Carencro High's Becnel to Appear in �International Who's Who�
The International Who's Who Historical Society announced that Carencro High School Academy of Information Technology Director Kit Becnel will appear in the 2005-06 edition of International Who's Who of Information Technology because of her accomplishments and contributions to the technology field.
Becnel began her tenure at Carencro High in 1988 as a business computer teacher. This eventually led her to the position of academy director. She has also attained four national/international computer certifications.
She heads one of the district's most popular academy programs designed to give students more individualized training in a field of their choice.
Presently, I am the Academy of Information Technology Director for the Lafayette Parish School System.
I have one daughter, Chea Matherne, who is attending Tulane University. She completed her freshman year as a Tulane Honor Scholar and a National Society Collegiate Scholar who is presently on the Dean's List. She is majoring in Political Science and Economics with a minor in Spanish with hopes of going onto Law School. Chea tutors disadvantage students and is a Green Wave Ambassador for Tulane.
I was selected as the Outstanding Business Education Student for my graduating class of 1978, received the Business Education Merit Award, the National Collegiate Association Secretary Award and voted as the outstanding National Secretary Collegiate Association Alumni for ULL.
While attending ULL, I was selected as an Outstanding Greek on campus, a ULL Favorite, ULL Mardi Queen, Veteran's Club Queen, and Who's Who Among College Students. I graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1978 with a B.S. in Business Education with a minor in Distributive Education. Later, I received my Computer Literacy Certification from ULL in 1987. In the summer of 2003, I received my National Certification Internet Web Master from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
I was a member of Phi Kappa Phi, the Dean's list for four years, the Commerce Honor Society, Kappa Delta Pi (honorary), Circle K, and Kappa Delta Sorority.
My biggest accomplishment I feel is I was a National Merit Semi-Finalist in 1973. |
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