Updated 5/26/11
Intel Retiree Partners with the Oregon University System and a
Local High School to Improve the Education Experience and
Help Local Students Prepare for a Career in High Tech.
By Ben Manny
Ben Manny, a 2006 Intel retiree, currently chairs the Intel Retiree Organization Volunteer Committee. He has recruited coordinators for five Intel sites and is working with the committee to achieve its mission of “Making a meaningful and positive difference to our local communities by increasing Intel Retiree volunteer hours “. Specifically Ben has drafted a volunteer plan that will take advantage of the unique skills Intelretirees have to offer, motivate more retirees to volunteer, and help retirees in reporting their volunteer hours to Intel. It is hoped these committee efforts will also result in Retirees having more personally rewarding volunteer experiences Because Intel retirees are passionate about lots of volunteer activities, finding a common ground is challenging. Ben is up for the challenge.
In addition to his board responsibilities for the Retiree organization, Ben spends over 500 hours in his other volunteer activities. One activity is to chair the “Motivate” workgroup whose goal is to motivate K-12 students across Oregon to pursue higher education. His duties include developing and implementing strategies and programs to inspire students to pursue a high-tech careers. His current focus program is eCHAMP (engineering Coaching And Mentoring Program). The goal of this program is to establish a local High School Champion to develop extracurricular engineering programs using the success model of High School Athletics. The program provides matching extra duty stipends for teachers who coach after-school engineering teams. Unlike sports, speech, band, yearbook, drama, choir, etc. there are no extra duty stipends paid to coach such teams.
Ben developed the program with a local teacher and raised $50K to fund the Pilot of eCHAMPs program which provided funding for 5 high schools. Because of the program’s success, one of the foundations is interested in helping expand the program to provide $1million in matching stipends, and one school district has agreed to incorporate stipends for engineering coaching into their budget. By reporting his volunteer hours to Intel he takes advantage of their matching grant program which directly provides about $2000 per year to OPAS (Oregon University System – Oregon Pre-Engineering & Science Program) & $3000 to Hillsboro High School as a mentor for MIT-Lemelson Foundation Invent Team & First Tech Challenge (FTC) Robotics team.
The students are challenged to solve real engineering problems, develop a network of others interested in high tech, travel outside the state, and some mentored students are further rewarded for their discipline and diligence through scholarships that have enabled them to pursue their dream of a high tech career.
Ben is truly committed to his volunteer work and became passionate when “as an Intel Manager, one of my biggest challenges was finding qualified college graduates, especially US citizens, to fill research positions. While the world has many needs, these needs can only be met with skilled and dedicated problem solvers.”
And his efforts are appreciated by OPAS as well. Jo Oshiro, an OPAS Program Coordinator, has this to say about Ben: “ Ben is an enthusiastic, thoughtful, and organized volunteer with a deep commitment to engineering education. His work in local classrooms enriches his perspective on the design, implementation, and priority of programs to further the motivation of youth to pursue technical careers. His management skills and time have been key to furthering the efforts of the OPAS Initiative.”
After four years, Ben still enjoys interacting with students and accompanying them on trips to competitions. The following pictures show that it is not all about studying, For the last six years, Ben has also been volunteering for ORTOP (Oregon Robotics and Technology Outreach Program) the organization that manages the First Lego League & First Tech Challenge programs. As chairperson for the Intel Retiree Volunteer committee, Ben wants everyone to know that there are many opportunities to volunteer for ORTOP/First Lego League or one of the many non-profit organizations that serve on one of the OPAS workgroups. Examples are, 4H, Saturday Academy, OMSI, MESA, SMILE, and BEC. For more information about the volunteer opportunities, please contact Ben via email at bmanny@frontier.com.