On March 20th, Mouse students from Baruch College Campus High School (BCCHS) proudly presented their conductive thread “DIY” Projects to their classmates at the Baruch Conference of Students of Mathematics (BCSM).

Within three weeks, teams of three to four 9th to 12th grade students built five projects, including a glove with LED lights at the fingertips and a flashing light pin in the shape of their “Blue Devil” school mascot. These amazing projects were created with the help of their Mouse Squad Coordinator Catherine Turso and mentors from Credit Suisse.

Last year, a group from Credit Suisse attended Mouse@15, an event recognizing the 15th anniversary of Mouse. Hazel Sy, Global Program Manager at Credit Suisse, met several students presenting their projects at the Mouse “Maker Space.”

After meeting these students, Hazel shared, “It rekindled...a sense of intellectual curiosity. We fall into work mode, and are so jaded by mindless gadgets these days that we forget how fun it is to explore and discover what makes things tick.” She added: 

Inspired by what she experienced at Mouse@15, Hazel expressed interest in expanding her involvement with them. She shared her passion for Mouse with colleagues, and suggested several opportunities for how they could become directly involved with MOUSE students.

Hazel was introduced to Catherine Turso, BCCHS Mouse Squad Coordinator. Catherine and Hazel instantly connected and shared ideas for involving volunteers with her “Tech Team” students, including as speakers for a Career Seminar Series and mentors for their technology projects.

“We have always wanted to have speakers come to talk about their career paths,” Catherine stated, “but finding people is hard and we are so fortunate that Hazel has helped us to bring inspiring and relevant speakers for all our students.”

The Career Seminar Series speakers have given students a perspective on different professional roles and provided knowledge of how to master important skills. Raymond Lo, spoke about his role as Senior User Experience Designer at AKQA, describing a “day in the life” of a UX designer, and providing tangible examples of projects he has been involved with.

Clemens Wan, Technical Analyst at Credit Suisse, shared his expertise in public speaking and provided valuable guidance on how students can prepare for college and internship interviews. Students were also very interested in his career path from engineer to business analyst.

Isabella, a BCCHS student who attended Clemens’ seminar on public speaking said it was “so much fun...and a relief because it showed me how easy it can be.”

Credit Suisse employees also served as mentors to BCCHS Mouse students for their DIY projects. “We chose to focus our program on a DIY model,” Catherine shared, “as we know that project management practice is the most applicable to whatever our students may be interested in in the future.”

With guidance from Clemens, Catherine’s team chose to focus their first DIY project on using conductive thread and LEDs. Mentors helped each group of students divide roles within their teams, including engineers, designers and marketers, and provided guidance on their projects.

The focus for this first DIY project was for students to hone their teamwork and project planning skills, and to understand the benefits from the consumer perspective. This reinforced the importance of the many roles involved – in addition to those directly involved with technology (engineers, programmers), those involved in usability (designers) and understanding the needs of the consumer (marketing) also play a critical role in this process.

When discussing her experience, Isabella said it was “cool to have a different adults’ perspective…it gave us confidence that we know what we are doing.”

In addition to working with Baruch as mentors, David Hu and Meghan Tennyson from Credit Suisse organized a volunteer event with Mouse students at The Island School (PS 188). They participated in a leadership workshop and learned from the students how to build simple circuits with the Mouse Garage Robotics curriculum. The students were empowered through the role reversal, and had the opportunity to put their leadership skills into action.

Mouse students also shared the projects they are working on using technology to address social issues, including homelessness, world hunger, and bullying.

Hazel and Clemens shared the very meaningful benefits these experiences have had on them. “Volunteering with Mouse brings together team members who are passionate about getting involved with youth,” stated Clemens. These students also remind Clemens of himself at a younger age, and he said, “I was inspired to become an engineer through my tech club in my high school – I wanted to show them that it is more than being a geek.”

Hazel added, “Credit Suisse values employee engagement. This is a way for people in different departments to meet, interact and expand their network...and also a great way to promote the transfer of skills and knowledge.”

We are incredibly thankful for the volunteers who enrich our students’ experiences with Mouse. We are also proud of the BCCHS Mouse students who are currently working with their mentors on their next DIY projects, which they hope to present at Emoti-Con!, a showcase of digital media and technology projects designed by youth across NYC this June!

See more photos from the Volunteer Event at The Island School!