By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – A new technology mentoring pilot program is in the books at Bloomington High School.

State Farm plans to continue the program, possibly to include more schools in the future.

Ashley Petrinec, a State Farm systems analyst, helped develop the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) project where 15 students learned some computer programming and other basics, including how to prepare for a career in information technology.

One-third of the students were girls and Petrinec would like to see more girls get excited about an IT career.

“How do we get a good mix of male-female of diverse backgrounds?” Petrinec asked. “It’s something that will be a challenge no matter where you are at.”

Sophomore Sophia Sutter said she found her introduction to the world of IT worthwhile.

“‘I’ve never known anything about it,” Sutter said. “Mostly the boys know computer games, so this introduced me to some of that stuff.”

Sutter used her experience in the class to land an internship at State Farm.

Freshman Shaina Canulo welcomed the challenge.

“I was excited about it. I have never done anything in computer programming before,” Canulo said. “I was ready to learn new stuff.”

Freshman Andrew Sexton said he’s not sure whether he’s going to pursue a career in computer programming or literature, but still found the class helpful.

“There are skills I can use throughout my life, even if I don’t fall into a strictly programming-oriented career,” Sexton said. “It would still be nice to have an idea how the stuff works.”

State Farm officials said they would like to bring it to other schools in the area to help address an expected shortage of IT professionals in the marketplace.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].