CONNECTING THE COMMUNITY Through Language & Technology

Communication has never been more complex as modern society continues to evolve both language and technology at a rapid rate.

For those seeking to expand their knowledge of technology into a career or businesses looking to develop their IT department, look no further than El Paso’s own Language Acquisition Research Foundation. Spearheaded by CEO Barron White and Director of Technology Daniel Barlow after realizing a shortage of tech graduates completing their certifications or seeking better opportunities outside of the Sun City.

Together, this dynamic duo has created the only apprenticeship program of its type west of Lubbock.

“It initially started as language research.” says White. “I was headed in another direction looking at those with hearing disabilities and monolingual Spanish speakers within our district. I hadn’t seen places anywhere looking to accommodate those members of our community as a way of providing them with job training opportunities.”

White would reach out to Barlow, a bowling buddy and former Vista College professor to pick his brain on IT and teaching philosophy. With that conversation, the seedling that would grow to become the Language Acquisition Research Foundation (LARF) was planted.

Today, the mission of LARF is to develop, facilitate, and integrate language and technological processes into the community in order to advance and prepare people for future success.

White and Barlow came together with an insight into the world of teaching and technology to formulate an alternative to existing methods offered throughout the region when it came to the education and certification of those aspiring to get into tech. They achieved this through two key factors.

The first is CompTIA, an internationally recognized nonprofit organization that sets the bar for the various careers inside tech, and their apprenticeship program. Unlike a standard internship, which leaves interns shuffling with busy work more often than not unpaid, White and Barlow’s apprenticeship grants their apprentices the chance to obtain on-the-job experience while said job offers them payment for hours worked and an opportunity for job security.

“We have a huge deficit of professional IT workers here in the community for a couple of reasons. The first being we don’t focus on certification,” states Barlow, “so students are paying to attend these schools to sit there. They manage to obtain their Associate’s degree, but without any certifications, they hit a brick wall.”

LARF’s Bilingual Pre-Apprenticeship/ Apprenticeship program opts not to implement a traditional GPA grading method for their apprentices to avoid prioritizing their apprentices studying to pass a final over taking the time to absorb the material they need to learn. In choosing to prioritize the certification of their apprentices, the apprentice works to understand the subject matter while obtaining a certificate attesting to their successful completion and comprehension of the material.

“The second reason current graduates have difficulty succeeding is the lack of experience.”, Barlow continues. “In the off chance these graduates do make it past the certification hurdle, the next thing these jobs are going to ask is if that graduate has any experience to back their degree. Once again, for many of these graduates, the answer will be a no, and once again, the door closes on that job opportunity.”