Congratulations to AOT's LA Fall 2021 Tech Flex Leaders Demo Day Competition Winners!

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:
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• Weekly technical training sessions taught by industry experts

• Intersectional professional development sessions designed to prepare students to confidently pursue degrees and careers in technology
• Career days and mentorship opportunities with representatives from leading technology companies

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. 

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 Terio Ruiz, LA Program Lead at America On Tech, and special remarks were given by Jessica Santana, co-founder of AOT, and Raquel Alvarado, 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 Robert Prado, Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Lindsey Heisser, Program Manager, Global Philanthropy at Snap Inc., Anastasia Williams, Founder / Chief Curator at TheAList, and Jordan Tyler, Data Engineer at Cookies.  A special thank you to TFL Program Manager Aisha Jami. It is thanks to her that the event was such a success and that students were so prepared!

​See the summaries of the winning student groups below. For more information on any of these projects, or to learn more about our programs, please contact laprograms@americaontech.org.
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1st Place Demo Day Winner: Healthy Homes Alliance
Team Members: Alyzee Sosa, Kevin Arista Solis, Jesse Osorio, Andy Lopez
​Client’s Mission: Healthy Homes Alliance mobilizes schools, families, and communities to create healthier environments for children to grow up in.​

​2nd Place Demo Day Winner: Homes for Best Friends
Team Members: Wendy Moy, Shawn Jerry lll
Client’s Mission: Homes for Best Friends dedicated to helping vulnerable animals and making sure all pets are kept in safe, loving homes.

​3rd Place Demo Day Winner: Out of the Box
Team Members: Mohammad Amin, John Joshua Ortiz
​Client’s Mission: Out of the Box believes in creating affordable spaces for artists to live and work. We believe that artists are a vital part of each community and we hope to create more stable, affordable, and desirable environments for artists and their families.

​Demo Day Finalist: Reach for Books
​Team Members: Skylie Campos, Fairren Harris, Sheila Oxlaj
Client’s Mission: Reach for Books’ goal is to get books into the hands of people whether they be young or old.

​Demo Day Finalist:  Reach for Books 
​Team Members: Naomi Saldanha, Junhwan Lim, Julia Leong
Client’s Mission: Reach for Books’ goal is to increase literacy throughout the country. We strive to provide literacy programs to schools and donate books to local libraries.

​Congratulations to our winning teams and all of the other TFL students who participated!

LA TFL Demo Day Finalist (left to right): Emma Skylie Campos, Fairren Harris, Sheila Oxlaj, Julia Leong, Naomi Saldanha, Junhwan Lim

LA TFL Demo Day Judges and 1st Place Winners (left to right): Robert Prado, Lindsey Heisser, Kevin Arista Solis, Alyzee Sosa, Anastasia Williams, Jordan Tyler