About Us
The first camp was held in August 2014 and had 9 students ranging in age from 11-14. Students built their own computer while learning the science of how hardware and software interact and integrate to produce one of society's most important tools. And they got to keep the computer. Since that time we have worked with close to 700 youth ages 8-17 and have expanded the program to add a wide array of technologies. TTM is thankful to Father Trevor Babb who championed the program and helped establish a sponsor and partnership with St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio. Father Babb invested his personal time and worked with the Episcopal Diocese to fund a significant portion of the program. What we accomplished that first year was well beyond our goals and objectives.
Past BYOC Camps and Clubs
Since beginning in 2014, Camp BYOC has invested and trained many students to build and maintain their own computers. Each year we have improved the program to add younger students and grow the skills and experiences of returning students. We now have camps all year round designed for different age groups, skill levels and maturity. In the future we plan to expand the beyond Cincinnati to other major cities/communities.
2014: PILOT Jr Engineering Camp, Ages 11-14.
2015: Expanded Engineering Camp, Ages 12-14; Associate Engineer's trip to Silicon Valley.
2016: Added Sr Engineering Camp.
2017: Added the Explorer Camp, ages 9-11; Continued Engineering Camps-ages 12-17; 2nd Trip to Silicon Valley.
2018: Expanded Explorer Camp; Started Saturday Club Sessions.
2019: Expanded All Camps; 3rd Trip to Silicon Valley; The largest camp size so far with 87 youth across 8 weeks.
2020: Added virtual camps and limited camps to small in-person sizes with lots of protective protocols due to Covid-19;
2021: Added STEM Fundamentals to the Explorer Camp.
2022: Added 8 yr olds into the Explorer Camp; Youth from 13 communities attended BYOC summer camps; Hosted the first BYOC Youth Tech Summit.
2023: Added new Explorer Classes into the Explorer Camp; Created the Apprentice Camp; Expanded the Engineering Camp; Started the Robotics Club; Held the largest summer camp to date with 150 youth; Youth from 27 communities attended BYOC summer camps; Visited Silicon Valley for the 4th time; Hosted the 2nd annual BYOC Youth Tech Summit.
2024: Youth from 25 communicities attended BYOC summer camps; Expanded the fall/winter clubs: media production, coding and robotics; Visited Silicon Valley for the 5th time; Held the 3rd annual BYOC Youth Tech Summit.
Building on my Procter & Gamble experiences, I created Business & Gaming Technologies, Inc. to offer technology solutions to small and medium sized businesses in the Greater Cincinnati area and Indianapolis. We offer computing/networking technologies, web solutions, and office technologies to businesses. We sell hardware components and provide repair services to retail customers at Technology Tailor Made (local retail stores) in Cincinnati and Indianapolis.
I founded BYOC Camps and Clubs for several reasons. I have always looked for ways to give back to the community through my business. BYOC allows me to share my skills and experiences with the upcoming generation giving them a head start in technology. As an African American woman, I know the challenges African Americans and women face in technology. Besides there being too few people in technology overall, very few are women or minority. The statistics haven't changed in over 30 years. BYOC gives me the opportunity to impact those statistics and help prepare others like me for the journey. The excitement of learning technology, the joy in seeing ideas come to life, the determination to overcome technical challenges, BYOC is preparation ground for the future.
