Atos Origin Hosts INTERalliance Students in Cincinnati for 5th Year

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Aug 05, 2010, 12:48 ET

CINCINNATI, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Twenty of Cincinnati's best and brightest high school students competed in business problem-solving last Wednesday at Atos Origin as part of the 2010 INTERalliance IT Careers Camp hosted by the University of Cincinnati. The program has grown to include more than 60 companies and three universities, and offers a unique way for students to get exposed to career possibilities in Information Technology at many of the leading employers in the Greater Cincinnati region.

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For the fifth year in a row, the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati produced its 2010 IT Careers Camp programs at University of Cincinnati, Miami University, and Northern Kentucky University. This year, 120 graduated 10th graders from 39 regional high schools were accepted into this award-winning program, first launched in 2006 by Atos Origin, Procter & Gamble, and the University of Cincinnati.

The Atos Origin competitions were part of a week-long series of challenges worth a possible 25,000 points to the winning corporate-sponsored team. This year, "Team Kroger", "Team SAP", "Team Great American Insurance" and "Team L&T Infotech" battled it out at sponsor sites. On July 28th, the techno-gladiators butted heads at Atos Origin's Cincinnati offices, attempting to respond to real-world-inspired challenges.

Overall, the three weeks of programming were deemed a complete success by Doug Arthur, Atos Origin Business Development Director for Consulting & System Integration in Cincinnati, and Executive Director of the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati. "Every year, the kids seem to get brighter, more technology savvy, and more informed than the year before! We are delighted to have this chance to engage with them early in their career-decision process, and show them why a company like Atos Origin is a terrific future employer for these students to target."

"How's Your Resume Looking?" asked each 5-student team to peruse 100 resumes in less than 15 minutes, and find the perfect 10 candidates for a global SAP project manager assignment. "Global English" presented each team with a press release written in some serious American and British slang, and challenged the students to translate this colloquialism-filled media into a respectable form of business English. "Do What I Say ..." pitted each team against a nerve-racking communication challenge inspired by the "job aids" Atos Origin experts create for their training clients.

Gene Wells, VP, Great Lakes Region, was joined by visiting guest, Dan O'Rourke, Global Market Executive for SAP America, to present the gold, silver, and bronze medals to the winning teams. A very proud "Team SAP" won the overall award for the day's events. The students got to watch the Atos Origin Vancouver Olympics video, and then more than twenty Atos Origin employees joined the students for lunch and chat about careers in IT, careers at Atos Origin, and college choices in the region and around the country.

The program is becoming renowned for attracting 50% or more young women into the technology challenges. And what did the students think of the program?

Says Kirsten Nilsson, a rising 11th grader at Loveland High School: "Being part of INTERalliance was truly one of the most rewarding experiences I've had: In less than a week, I met amazing students from this area (people I could really relate to), incredible staff and coaches (with great experience and personalities), and established connections with talented people in top local companies -- I hope to nurture all of these moving forward!"

Wrote Cara Cheshire, 11th grader at Wyoming High School: "I think it was a great learning experience. The challenges during the day really made you think, and having my team there to brainstorm was a fun learning experience. ... I went into the camp with hardly any interest in IT at all. INTERalliance really opened my eyes."

For more information about the INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, contact Doug Arthur, Atos Origin North America, INTERalliance Executive Director, [email protected].

About Atos Origin

Atos Origin is a leading international information technology (IT) services company, providing hi-tech transactional services, consulting, systems integration and managed operations to deliver business outcomes globally. The company's annual revenues are $8.3 billion and it employs 49,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international blue-chip companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting.

SOURCE Atos Origin