What a great opportunity I’ve been presented with. In December we received an email from Omar Bravo, Davis Applied Technology College’s (“DATC”) Digital Media Design Instructor. The DATC was “looking for highly qualified industry professionals who are interested in improving Web Design & Development (Digital Marketing) Education.” Count Utah Sites in.
Having grown up in Kaysville I have a great passion for supporting Davis County. Since starting Utah Sites and it preceding DBA’s back in 2007 I have always made a strong effort towards committing to helping out the local community where me or my team can. When presented with the opportunity to meet with Omar from the DATC I couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.
After a brief breakfast in Kaysville at Granny Annie’s Family Restaurant with Omar, I was in. It isn’t too often that I am impressed by someone’s passion. I was pleasantly “wow’d” with Omar. He truly enjoys his profession and is in it to help others learn. No question. Quite honestly, he probably knows more about many things than I do even as “an industry professional.”
Fast forward to yesterday and we had our first Employer Advisory Committee event. At the Digital Marketing table I had the pleasure of meeting other great, local web design and advertising agencies, like Forth Gear. The DATC provided a delicious lunch from Cafe Rio.
After an overall introduction about the goals of the committee we had the opportunity to read the curriculum of a course of our choice and to provide feedback. Much of the responsibilities of the Employer Advisory Committee is to help provide feedback from a real life industry perspective.
- Is the curriculum relevant?
- Is the curriculum up to date?
- Are there areas of education to expand on?
I chose to review the Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) course. Having been involved in the SEO world for so long it was a bit of a unique experience for me to see SEO processes documented in such an extensive format. I was quite surprised how accurate the suggested practices were, too. After about an hour of being brought up to speed on curriculum options and reviewing the basics of the Search Engine Optimization course we called it a day.
What a great experience. I’m excited to see students in our local community being educated with such great materials. Even moreso, I’m excited to know that someone so passionate as Omar is the one supporting them on their journey. Thank you DATC.
~Damon Burton
President, Utah Sites