High school students from across Iowa will be on campus today to participate in CyTech Challenge 2001.

Justin Doyle, director of CyTech Challenge 2001, said CyTech is “a four-year-old organization designed to bring high school students to Iowa State to get interested in tech careers.”

Doyle, junior in electrical engineering, said CyTech is open to any high school students from freshmen to juniors in Iowa who are unsure about what college they want to attend.

Anthony Hendrickson, CyTech adviser, said the program was started by a state grant from Vision 2020, but “it now stands alone and is sponsored by corporate sponsors,” he said.

Doyle said there is no formal application process for students who wish to attend, but they try to give priority to high schools that don’t usually apply in an effort to spread out the experience.

“It gets [the students] out of class so they can come to a big university,” said Hendrickson, associate professor of logistics, operations and management information systems. “It helps them think about broader aspects of a career, and it helps them to know ISU vs. MIT or other universities.”

Representatives from technology companies also act as mentors for students during the challenge. “Each company sponsors three high school students and acts as a mentor all day,” Doyle said

Students will arrive between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

“There will be a mini job fair to allow corporations to sell what they do and allow students to ask questions,” Doyle said.

After the job fair, he said, students will form 28 teams. There will be four groups consisting of seven teams that will participate in four activities throughout the day.

While the students participate in activities, Doyle said, a group of about 30 people comprised of high school instructors and parents will have a technology tour of the Virtual Reality lab in Howe Hall.