Feature Story

By Leslie T. O'Neill

August 30, 2007 -- Project Open Doors, a program Sun Microsystems started four years ago in São Paulo, Brazil, invites high school students from communities around the world to visit local Sun campuses, where they learn about Sun technology, see the types of careers possible at an IT company, and get a sense of how they might fit in to the high-tech world. The program encourages the ambitions of young people, assuring them that whatever their background, opportunity awaits students who participate on the network.

"Project Open Doors allows Sun to reach out to the communities where we operate to expose young people and fundamentally challenge their thinking about how the network impacts them — and to help them maximize their impact on their communities," explains Mary Smaragdis, executive director of the Sun Microsystems Foundation. "And then we can infuse their point of view into Sun's internal dialogue."

Through the flagship program and partner Obra do Berco, an organization that operates centers for disadvantaged children, Sun employees have educated more than 200 students from impoverished communities in Brazil, training them on basic IT principles, office skills, and Java technology. To similarly help young people in the United States, Sun officially launched Project Open Doors in July with all-day events in Somerset, NJ, and Menlo Park, CA.