John Wittmann -- no relation to our columnist -- is the administrator of the Chantilly Academy program. Thankfully, he greeted me within minutes of my arrival at the school's office, because I was starting to get flashbacks.

We toured the academy, where many students bus in during the day from around the county to take one of 18 different programs. Roughly one-third of those students take classes in the IT program, which has everything from basic hardware repair to network design -- a discipline that takes place in a classroom with the latest Cisco Systems gear and a trial of a dozen or so new Oracle Web computers.

Although the goal isn't necessarily vocational, Wittmann has lured a number of teachers from industry, and students do get a variety of industry certifications. Chantilly is a Microsoft authorized academic training program, for example, and also offers Novell and Cisco certifications, among others. Last year by this time, one student had already received a certification. This year, 20 have so far. The school also reimburses students for these certifications, and some students are even receiving college credits.

Marshall High School, of recent fame for its (inaccurate) portrayal in Remember the Titans as the victim of the mighty T.C. Williams High School Titans in the 1971 Virginia state championships, has Oracle and e-commerce courses.

Many of the academy students go onto schools like University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Johns Hopkins and MIT. They received $300,000 in scholarships last year. The academy keeps track of its students after they're gone. Over the past four years, the number who have enrolled in post-secondary education programs has grown from 76 percent to 86 percent.

Many students get internships, including programs at the Pentagon. Often companies providing the internships will hire these students right out of high school -- the IT equivalent of Kobe Bryant. Of course, this brilliance is sometimes balanced by the typical curiosity: As Wittmann and I walked, he stopped to deal with the matter of a student who'd hacked into some of the administration's computers. The school system's CIO, Maribeth Luftglass, told me the district had to put up a firewall at Jefferson High School, an institution that boasts some of the nation's highest SAT scores.

Lest you think this program is just for brainiacs, no qualifications are needed to get in. A quarter of the students in the program are classified as learning disabled; 18 percent speak English as a second language; only 10 percent are classified as gifted.

Wittmann, always breaking ground, has increased the female population in the IT classes. He created a pilot class of 15 girls to eliminate some of the competition that often happens in mixed environments. He brings in female mentors to talk to the class.

In these days of scarce IT resources, John Wittmann, Chantilly and Fairfax County schools are doing something about it. Next time you hire some young hotshot fresh out of school, thank a teacher.

Better yet, become one.