New IT fellowship started at Nashville State Community College

Nashville State Community College has started the Darrell Freeman Fellowship in a partnership with BGSF, a workforce solutions company. The fellowship will help students interested in a career in Information Technology who have graduated with an Associate of Applied Science degree in data analytics, networking, cyber security, or programming. 

BGSF and Nashville State worked together with the Freeman family to form the fellowship to honor Darrell’s memory and legacy of mentorship and generosity. BGSF is providing students with a one-time $1,500 stipend to earn IT industry-focused credentials and certifications in addition to access to a technical mentor to help students with those courses.

Dr. Shanna L. Jackson, President of Nashville State Community College, was quoted in the Dickson Post about the inspiration for the fellowship, saying, “Darrell was an inspirational leader, whose legacy will have a lasting impact. We are honored to offer the Fellowship in his name and are grateful to BGSF for supporting our students and working with us to supply the local information technology talent pipeline for business.”

Darrell Freeman was a businessman from Nashville who was involved in philanthropy and mentoring, especially for aspiring black entrepreneurs. In 2017 he sold his information technology consulting company, Zycron, Inc. to BGSF. BGSF is a public workforce solutions firm that connects workers and businesses. Following the acquisition of Zycron, Darrell kept strong relationships with the leadership of BGSF.

Eric Peters, who serves as the president of BGSF’s Professional Division, talked about his relationship with Darrell, saying, “Darrell was a good friend of mine. We miss him dearly and we want to continue on with the legacy of what he believed in and we think that this Fellowship and partnership with Nashville State Community College is the best way to do it.”

The Darrell Freeman Fellowship will prepare IT students for entry-level jobs in several fields such as ServiceNow Application Management/Administration, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure/Architecture, and Oracle Application Management. 

The courses provided by the fellowship will be self-paced and online, and will prepare students to take industry accepted competency examinations. These examinations and the industry certifications they provide will be useful for students as they transition into the workforce after graduating with an A.A.S. degree. BGSF will also provide counseling to students as they search for entry-level positions to assist them in their search as well as to provide advice on getting the positions they find interesting. Nashville State Community College and BGSF will also help fellows in the search for an internship.

Information Technology can be a lucrative field for workers, with paid internships paying as much as $25 an hour and entry-level positions paying around $60,000 a year to those who hold an AAS degree and related certifications.

Students who are interested in applying for the Darrell Freeman Fellowship can contact Nashville State IT partnerships director, Rob Tudor, by email at robert.tudor@nscc.edu.

More information about Nashville State Community College can be found at the school’s website.