March 2025

This assessment evaluates changes made to the Spring 2025 Data Center Alliance event at EMCC, hosted in collaboration with iMasons. Following the initial 2024 event, several enhancements were implemented, including expanded panel offerings, increased marketing efforts, the addition of industry tabling, and the incorporation of national best practices from Northern Virginia Community College. Attendance nearly doubled, student engagement significantly increased, and the event resulted in a $10,000 industry scholarship commitment for AIT technician students.

The necessity for the laptop checkout program became evident in the academic year 2019-2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and students were required to complete the Spring 2020 semester online. The laptop checkout process was identified as a need by students who did not have the proper equipment to complete a course(s). The results indicated that the course completion rate of students who checked out a laptop is consistently close to students who did not check out a laptop.