Throughout this year’s transition to remote learning, our educators have shown incredible resilience and perseverance. The 2021 Diversity In Tech Awards is our 6th annual event to recognize individuals and organizations that are championing the nationwide movement to increase diversity across the technology industry. At the virtual ceremony this year, 45 educators from 17 schools were honored, and of those honorees, 18 educators from 6 schools were spotlighted for their extraordinary work.

In partnership with the NYC Department of Education’s Division of Instructional and Informational Technology (DIIT), these schools and educators from across all five boroughs taught over 800 students about human-centered design thinking and user experience design. With training and ongoing support and coaching, teachers, alongside their students, engaged in Mouse's Design with Purpose course to create original wireframes for apps designed to address a need in their community. At the conclusion of this program, students presented at both asynchronous and synchronous virtual project fairs where technology professionals provided constructive feedback. Check out some of the students’ work here!

High School for Media and Communications

• Jordan Boyce
• Carmen Ortiz-Tello
• Raymond Martinez
• Marilyn Ramirez

Bronx International High School

• Marvin Cadornigara
• David Choi
• Victor Pinnock

M.S. 582 – The Magnet School for Multimedia, Technology, and Urban Planning

• Alexander Arnakis
• Carlos Garcia

M.S. 358 – The Magnet School of S.T.E.A.M. Exploration & Experiential Learning

• Jacqueline Rodriguez
• Lea Pandolfi
• Narin Prum
• Denique White

I.S. 145 – The Magnet School of Innovation and Applied Learning

• Kathleen Hogan
• Pauline Kim
• Jayme Klapman

I.S. 75 – Frank D Paulo Intermediate School

• Meredith Feigel
• Dana Shea

To support these extraordinary teachers as they continue to impact youth and work towards increasing diversity across the technology industry, Mouse has made a $100 donation to each school through DonorsChoose.

Along with the extraordinary teachers who implemented the Mouse & DIIT Design League program, we also celebrated the 2021 Educator Champion, Anthony Casasnovas, EdTech Program Implementation Manager at NYC DOE’S DIIT. Throughout the program partnership, Anthony's dedication has led us through numerous ways to celebrate and congratulate students for their fantastic work. We deeply appreciate Anthony’s support and look forward to opportunities where we can engage more students in human-centered design thinking for a better future for our community.

Thank You!

Thank you to all 45 teachers for their exemplary work throughout the year and the DIIT team at NYC DOE for making this program a huge success.

Thank you to this year’s premier sponsors – Best Buy, RBC Capital Markets, and Ernst & Young as well as multiple individual supporters who donated to make this event possible.

We look forward to celebrating with you next year to honor and recognize more achievements of individuals and organizations in the nationwide movement to increase diversity across the technology industry.

About Mouse

Mouse is a national youth development nonprofit that puts tech education equity first. Our goal is to ensure that people of color and students from low-income communities have the opportunity for equitable social and economic advancement, and to ensure that the future of STEM and tech is inclusive and representative of our society. Learn more at mouse.org.