AT&T ’Cuse Digital Expertise Expands Expertise Training for Syracuse Metropolis Faculty College students

Syracuse College, AT&T, Museum of Science and Expertise (MOST) and Tech4Kidz partnered this summer time to create the Central New York area’s first free digital literacy and schooling summer time program designed to deal with equality points in expertise schooling and to assist native college students impacted by the digital divide.

The AT&T ’Cuse Digital Expertise is designed to encourage extra underserved and numerous college students to enter the sector of expertise, an trade that has lengthy confronted a pervasive variety hole. This system supplied greater than 120 underrepresented college students from the Syracuse Metropolis Faculty District in fourth via eighth grades a chance to achieve important digital literacy and readiness expertise via distinctive expertise centered immersive experiences, whereas encouraging them to discover a STEM and expertise academic and profession paths

Over the course of this system, the scholars realized an enormous array of digital literacy expertise, together with cybersecurity, optimistic social media makes use of, analyzing search engine outcomes, laptop coding fundamentals, keyboarding expertise, synthetic intelligence, 3D printing disciplines, digital animation, robotics, computer-based design for civil engineering and public area initiatives, and expertise for locating factual information on-line.

The scholars additionally realized how expertise can be utilized for good and group constructing by creating options and discovering artistic makes use of to deal with points impacting youth of the area, corresponding to digital citizenship, whereas additionally studying the hazards of cyberbullying, cyberscams and digital footprint points that damage youngsters’s status later in life.

Deborah Nosky

“We’re grateful to AT&T and our collaborative companions for permitting us to introduce digital citizenship to so many native college students. Throughout our time collectively we have been in a position to be taught extra about security and learn how to defend our private data within the digital world,” says Deborah Nosky, professor of apply within the Faculty of Data Research. “By increasing the scholars’ understanding and use of digital applied sciences, college students have been higher in a position to perceive how the talents we realized utilized to careers they have been already acquainted with and new ones that they could want to discover.”

“Expertise innovates and transforms our world, and it creates boundless alternatives for many who know learn how to unlock its potential. That is why I’m so excited for the 120 Syracuse Metropolis Faculty District college students who participated within the first AT&T ’Cuse Digital Expertise summer time program. They realized beneficial expertise that may certainly be the inspiration for his or her future success—and the financial prosperity of our group,” says Jennifer Tifft, director of strategic initiatives for the Metropolis of Syracuse. “I’m deeply grateful to AT&T, the Museum of Science and Expertise, Tech4Kidz and Syracuse College for providing such an impactful program to our youngsters. Partnerships like this make it doable to create extra inclusive academic and financial alternatives for households of all backgrounds.”

Digital data has change into the brand new literacy and is the driving force of all new international expertise. With the rising demand to innovate, organizations throughout varied industries wrestle to fill expert positions. It’s projected that there will likely be 3.5 million STEM and digital jobs within the U.S. by 2025, underscoring the significance of offering the youth the instruments and expertise essential to compete on this innovation economic system.

The urgency for extra numerous expertise educated workers is accentuated by the low proportion of variety make-up of the expertise trade. This alarming variety scarcity within the tech trade and the rising STEM job market emphasizes the significance of offering programing just like the AT&T ’Cuse Digital Expertise for youth of all backgrounds and financial conditions.

“It’s been a pleasure instructing and studying from these energetic native college students about expertise and digital citizenry. Thanks to AT&T for making it doable,” says Laurie Ferger, instructing professor within the Faculty of Data Research.

Laurie Ferger

The free program was made doable by monetary assist and programing collaboration from AT&T as a part of the corporate’s $2 billion nationwide dedication from 2021-2023 to assist bridge the digital divide and homework hole.

“It has been an honor to collaborate with the MOST, Tech4Kidz and Syracuse College to supply this progressive expertise to those college students, because it additional enhances our dedication to offering sources for digital literacy academic programming throughoutnd builds upon our vigorous efforts to bridge the variety hole within the expertise trade,” says Kevin Hanna, director of exterior affairs, AT&T. “I’m so impressed by these outstanding college students and happy with their dedication all through the summer time working onerous to achieve important digital literacy expertise, all of them have nice futures forward of them.”