 Pictured left to right, top row: Alyzee Sosa, Kevin Arista Solis, Wendy Moy / Pictured left to right, bottom row: Shawn Jerry lll, Mohammed Amin, John Joshua Ortiz On Thursday, December 9, 2021, students in America On Tech’s Los Angeles TFL Program competed in a Demo Day Competition to showcase their final web development projects.
The Tech Flex Leaders (TFL) Program is an immersive out-of-school time program for juniors and seniors enrolled in a Los Angeles high school. This program engages students interested in technology through:
For the 2021 TFL Fall semester, students learned how to code through web development, mastering HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. As a final project, students were placed in teams of 2-4 and provided a mock small business client brief, along with mini lessons about being a technology consultant and pitching/presenting an idea or project. Students then developed a website according to their mock small business client brief and each TFL cohort had its own preliminary competition to advance one team to compete in the Demo Day Competition. The five teams that advanced to the Demo Day Competition demoed their projects and the top three teams were chosen by tech executive judges.
0 Comments
 AOT staff and judges with Demo Day winners On December 9, 2021 America On Tech held its first in-person Demo Day event since fall 2019!
Prior to this event, students in America On Tech’s Tech Flex Leaders program learned the fundamentals of web design and development from industry experts based in NYC. Over the course of 10 weeks, students learned the basics of HTML and CSS, developed their professional skill sets, and explored industry aligned coding tools. For the final project of the semester, students were placed in teams of 4-6 and provided a mock non-profit client brief, along with mini lessons about being a technology consultant and pitching/presenting an idea or project. Students developed a website according to their mock non-profit client brief and each cohort had its own preliminary competition leading up to our fall 2021 Demo Day, where the top 5 teams across all cohorts competed to determine a winner. Today we are featuring those winners in our blog! America On Tech’s Demo Day was a celebration of achievement that showcased and brought to life the projects of students to an audience of corporate partners, parents/guardians of our Tech Flex Leaders, students, and a greater community of business and technology professionals, passionate about creating pathways for the next generation of innovators. The event was hosted by Kylie Repasy, National Program Director at America On Tech, and special remarks were given by Evin Robinson, co-founder of AOT, and Jessica Ahialey, an AOT alumna and peer mentor. Throughout the evening, students had an opportunity to demo their projects to event attendees, pitching in front of a live audience of about 50 people, and a virtual Zoom audience. Our panel of judges included Dana Pouwels, Managing Director at JP Morgan Chase & Co., Ray Estevez, Chief Information Officer at True Influence, and Sallie Jian, Director at SAP.io. A special thank you to TFL Program Managers Stefanie Reyes and Abrar Hasnat. It is thanks to them that the event was such a success and that students were so prepared!  America on Tech (AOT) was selected by Citi Foundation as a recipient of the Community Progress Makers initiative, which supports visionary organizations across the U.S. that are working to connect low-income communities and communities of color to greater social and economic opportunity. As a Community Progress Maker, AOT will receive a multi-year, unrestricted grant of $500,000 and access to technical assistance and a supportive learning community from 2022 – 2023.
America on Tech Partners with Snap Inc. to Host Career Day for LA and NYC Tech Flex Leaders11/19/2021  On Monday, November 8, 2021 and Tuesday, November 9, 2021, America on Tech partnered with Snap Inc. to host a career day for the LA and NYC Tech Flex Leaders, respectively. Snap Inc. is a camera and social media company that develops and maintains Snapchat, Spectacles, and Bitmoji. The event was part of Snap Inc.’s World Kindness Week initiative.
 On November 17, 2021, GLG announced our Co-Founder and President, Evin Robinson, as a member of its new class of Social Impact Fellows. The fellowship is comprised of 10 social sector leaders advancing innovative solutions to the world’s most urgent problems. The GLG Social Impact Fellowship, now in its eighth year, provides pro bono access to GLG’s platform and full suite of products through a multi-year partnership.
Jessica Santana, Co-founder & CEO of America On Tech, Selected as a 2022 Roddenberry Fellow10/21/2021  On October 19, 2021, The Roddenberry Foundation announced our Co-founder and CEO, Jessica Santana, as one of the members of its 2022 Fellowship cohort. Through her participation, America On Tech (AOT) will receive a $50K award.
 We are thrilled to announce our newest cohort of America on Tech (AOT) leaders, the 2021 - 2022 Peer Mentors! This year our twenty one Peer Mentors will be working virtually to support and help lead 8 Tech Flex Leaders cohorts in New York City and 4 Tech Flex Leaders cohorts in Los Angeles.
On Thursday, August 18, 2021, America on Tech (AOT) hosted a Demo Day showcase and competition for students who participated in the 2021 UX Design Bootcamp. The UX Design Bootcamp is a 6-week program that teaches students the fundamentals of User Experience Design. In this course, students completed the entire cycle of user experience design beginning with understanding users and product issues and ending with a market ready, clickable design prototype that they are able to add to their professional portfolio. AOT is grateful to Blackstone Charitable Foundation and Samvid Ventures for sponsoring the program and providing volunteers to work with our students.  On August 13, 2021, America on Tech (AOT) celebrated its first class of virtual interns with a showcase of their summer experiences. Over the last two months, AOT placed 86 students in summer internships throughout an employer network of 55 companies, including Amazon, Blackrock, BNY Mellon, Comcast, NBCUniversal, and Microsoft, to name a few. Of those 86 students, 97% identified as Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) and 57% identified as women and/or Gender Non-Conforming.  America On Tech (AOT) is proud to announce the launch of its Regional Advisory Boards in New York City and Los Angeles. Board members represent a diverse collection of technology executives and leaders from some of the world's most recognized corporations and fastest growing companies.   |
RSS Feed