PROVIDENCE – RI Nexus will launch its first college tour this week at Johnson & Wales University, as the organization works to connect the state’s students with its growing information technology and digital media sector.

Jack Templin, the Providence Geeks founder who also oversees RI Nexus, will visit JWU’s School of Technology on Thursday morning. Templin said he plans to do a presentation and then take questions from the students.

The college tour is designed to give local students a better understanding of what opportunities and resources are available to them in the state, Templin said.

“I think in our conversations it just became clearer and clearer that the students are really one of if not the most valuable resources in the state,” he said. “Lots of states would kill to have the per-capita [student] population we have.”

The college tour will continue on Oct. 3 at the University of Rhode Island. Templin said he will probably visit other schools in the months to come. No decision has been made yet on whether to turn the college tour into an annual event, he said.

RI Nexus was launched in 2007 by the R.I. Economic Development Corporation (EDC) as “a program dedicated to information sharing and community building” in the local IT and digital media sector. For more information, visit www.RInexus.com.