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Education

Glendale, Estrella Mountain colleges team with Microsoft for new academy

IT training to benefit West Valley students

Posted 4/16/22

Glendale Community College and Estrella Mountain Community College, in Avondale, invite the public to the grand opening of the Microsoft Datacenter Academy on Wednesday, May 4.

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Education

Glendale, Estrella Mountain colleges team with Microsoft for new academy

IT training to benefit West Valley students

Posted

Glendale Community College and Estrella Mountain Community College, in Avondale, invite the public to the grand opening of the Microsoft Datacenter Academy on Wednesday, May 4.

An open house will take place from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the academy located on the ground floor of Estrella Hall on the Avondale campus at 3000 N. Dysart Road.

The Datacenter Academy is the result of a collaboration between Glendale and Estrella Mountain, and Microsoft. It serves students from both colleges, preparing them for high-demand jobs in the IT sector, including in Microsoft Datacenters.

The collaboration is part of the Microsoft Datacenter Academy program, which helps build digital skills and provides career pathways in the growing information technology sector for residents of communities in which Microsoft operates datacenters. Microsoft opened a Datacenter in El Mirage last year and has plans to open two more in Goodyear in the near future.

“This collaboration with Microsoft will help fill a void in the IT job market and provide our students with additional streamlined pathways to these high-paying jobs, many of which will be located right here in the West Valley,” EMCC President Dr. Rey Rivera shared in a statement.

The Academy houses servers, storage devices, and networking equipment donated from Microsoft datacenters. The specialized equipment gives students hands-on experience with industry-standard hyper cloud hardware.

“GCC is honored to partner with EMCC and Microsoft in creating a Datacenter Academy that will prepare our students for careers in this growing high-tech field,” GCC President Dr. Teresa Leyba Ruiz stated. “We are thankful to Microsoft for their vision and dedication in supporting community colleges as their premier partner in preparing a well-trained workforce.”

Students participating in the Datacenter Academy take courses to earn a Certificate of Completion or an Associate of Applied Science Degree. Additionally, they can earn certifications in several CompTIA areas such as A+, Security+, Network+, Cloud+, and Server+.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. The alignment with EMCC and GCC’s mission, vision, and values provide robust opportunities for partnership between the three organizations.

“Microsoft is committed to investing in workforce development to increase digital literacy in the community and build 21st-century job skills,” Bob Reitinger, Microsoft workforce development global program manager, shared. “The Estrella Mountain/Glendale lab helps us deliver on that commitment.”