Last night, I had the opportunity to attend our local school board meeting and to be part of a presentation for a program titled: Tech Journey. This presentation was to inform our local board of actions that the district had taken over the summer to provide students with the opportunity to explore, in a hands on environment, careers related to technology. This effort was focused on letting 8th grade students have experiences that could impact their education choices and potentially open up opportunities for them to explore career choices. Better yet, the program was focused on providing these opportunities to students who typically don't have a lot of resources available to them on regular basis.
I commend the district administrative staff, the instructors and their technology team for leaning in on this effort and making it happen. Tech Journey was originally envisioned by a team of people in the Des Moines School District, and the Johnston School District was able to work with the original Tech Journey team to construct a similar opportunity for kids within our local district. A win for everyone involved!
So how do I fit into the picture and why was I at the board meeting? Well, for years, I have been working with several of the local high schools. I go in and talk to the students about what it's like to work in technology fields, I work to find volunteers to help the students in programming/security competitions and I work with the administration in helping to define programs that give students an opportunity to explore technology opportunities. I also do this with some of the local colleges and across both high school and college students, I provide internship opportunities when their is a good match between a students experience and opportunities that I have in my teams. Yes, most of these internships go to 2 or 4 year college students, but when the right high school student comes along, we work to see if there is a 'right' fit. My job last night was to support the district staff in the presentation and show the commitment to this particular private/public partnership to help students.
Early this spring, I was contacted by the administration team planning the Tech Journey event and asked to review the curriculum and then to see if I could find the necessary volunteers to work with the students. Working with the team, we refined the standard Tech Journey schedule and curriculum. I was then able to find volunteers within my team to work with the students and explore the following:
- 3D Modeling using SketchUp
- Programming using Scratch
Next year, the district hopes to expand the program to include basic HTML and CSS concepts.
For the 3D modeling, the students all got to use a tool called SketchUp to create Lego like blocks. This took the better part of the morning as they took measurements and then learned how to use SketchUp to create the actual 3D model. The technology team from the district, had setup 3D printers and over the lunch hour then printed each students block. The final test, would the blocks fit together? Why, yes, they did!
The afternoon, was split into 2 different sessions. First the students got to experience Scratch - programming for beginners. They had a lot of fun working to create a game, guided by some of the volunteers, Students were able to work in a casual manner with 1-on-1 interaction with the volunteers. The 2nd part of the afternoon was a Virtual Reality experience.
I can only hope that these young minds walked away from the day with the knowledge that they have the capability to do this type of work. That it is not intimidating.
I know that my team had a lot of fun working with the students that day. Between the different sessions we had Sphero competitions between the students and the volunteers and at the end of the day, everyone was able to partake in a Virtual Reality experience. I gotta say, the technology available to students these days is impressive! My team is now asking to get VR equipment - not sure how I justify that!
So, why am I writing about this? A couple of reasons come to mind.
First, all of us have a responsibility to find a way to help the next generation take their first steps. I'm truly passionate about working with students across middle school, high school and college to show them what opportunities exist and why they should be interested in pursuing careers in technology. I want to share my experiences, as a way to show to others that there is not a large investment of time, and that the rewards far outweigh the time spent volunteering.
Second, I want to encourage my peers to find a way to help students explore these careers. We all know there is a shortage of talented team members in the technology field - I don't care which field, there is a shortage and it is going to get worse before it gets better. We need to find ways to let young women and young men know that they can succeed in this field. If only one of you reads this article and then finds a way to volunteer to help a group of students or an individual student explore technology as a career choice, then I'll call it a success.
Maybe it's your own student, maybe you find a day to volunteer at your local school, maybe you help a group of students compete in a technology challenge. Only you know what you're capable of and what time you have available to help these students. Find a way! Be a part of something bigger than the day to day grind!
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
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