FIU aims high with the STARS Alliance

Holly McCoach
The University seems to be climbing the ladder of achievements thanks to many determined panthers.

One group of panthers is clawing its way to the top in achievements and learning opportunities.

The STARS Alliance, Students in Technology, Academia, Research and Service, opened up a chapter at the University approximately two years ago. The organization is within a computer based field, in which members provide personalized tutoring to those in need. These courses include Computer Science, Information Technology, and Electrical and Computer Engineering.

However, STARS is not solely based on tutoring University students. This group focuses on outreaching to public schools, and aims to assist in developing essential skills in life and the workplace, such as giving presentations, rather than any given assignment.

“We help them develop as individuals,” said Gio Peralto-Pritchard, a junior Information Technology major, the Council of Student Organizations representative, and the web master.

STARS reached out to Wesley Matthews Elementary School, where the students were taught how to build and program robots. Exposing these younger students to new and upcoming technologies right now helps them to determine whether or not they enjoy it and would consider pursuing the field. The STARS members peak the interests of the youngsters in every way possible save for teaching them how to decipher codes. Gaining their attention by discovering what captivates them when learning is one of the many goals of the organization’s members. The organization works to have a sense of direction and balance along with their computer tutoring programs.

“It is truly an entire foreign language. You have to start thinking not just on terms of English verbs and nouns, but you have to start thinking [of it] as a whole other language. These are kids that barely scratch into Algebra, so they know the basic arithmetic. You can’t overwhelm them,” said Terry Letterman, an Information Technology Graduate Student and the President of the STARS chapter at the University, “That’s what STARS is all about. It’s outreaching.”

STARS’ idea is to give students multiple approaches to understanding the same topic, and to give them the tools to learn, not the answers. As a result, STARS has a human side to its program.

“It’s not just about knowing the material, it’s being able to convey that material,” said Anthony Forns, senior Information Technology major.

Professional and technical development is another important aspect of the program, rather than an overload of knowledge on computers. STARS implements the social skills necessary because it applies to the workforce, making them well-rounded.

“The reason why I joined STARS [is because when] the person you’re tutoring gets an ‘A-ha!’ moment, it’s the best feeling in the world,” said Forns.

Peralto-Pritchard and Forns attended the STARS Celebration in Atlanta, where schools nationwide attended and presented different ideas to each other. The conference held a series of speakers. Ideas such as improvement of voting, and an absentee ballot system for soldiers overseas were discussed.

“We want to develop [outreach]. Coming out of Atlanta, I learned how we can better improve [that],” said Peralto-Pritchard.

FIU’s STARS Alliance chapter was ranked as a high performing organization out of all the alliances, and is in the top ten.

“We developed a website that is now being implemented in other schools,” said Peralto-Pritchard.

With this chapter only being around two years old, it can be safe to say that they are making their way to the top, and representing FIU proudly.

Any University student with any major is also free to join. The STARS Alliance chapter at the University encourages anyone that is even slightly interested in computers to check out the chapter.

To join the STARS Alliance at FIU, students can check it out at http://stars.cs.fiu.edu/. The organization also meets together in the Engineering & Computer Science building every other Thursday of the month.