This spring, Mouse Squad of California (MSCA) kicked off a pilot project to encourage STEM education and pathways for young people with its "Tech Speaker Series." In this pilot project, MSCA partnered with local companies to bring technology professionals into the schools.

There were many different styles of presentations: female CEO’s who started as engineers showcasing their startups, traditional career panels, hands-on coding demonstrations and motivational talks. Many different companies were represented in the series, including Cisco, Fitbit and Symantec.

Highlights included twelve members of the Fitbit Product Engineering Team demonstrating how their product is made from design through execution to curious high school students. The teacher, Heidi Languis, says, “I can’t believe how engaged our students were! They got so much out of the presentation and we can’t wait to have Fitbit back!” 

Lance Perry, Vice President, IT at Cisco, spoke to students at Union Middle School in Los Gatos, a small town just outside of San Jose. Lance was so impressed with the kids, “These kids are brilliant! With kids like this, the future holds wonderful things! Thank you for including me in this project—it was incredibly inspiring.”

Venkat Ramesh, also from Cisco, gave a hands-on coding demo to elementary students at DeVargas Elementary. His presentation used aspects of his work, pieces from Khan Academy and Mouse Squad activities. Venkat also walked away impressed and committed to returning, “I couldn’t believe the questions these kids were asking! I had no idea about programming at their age—they were so engaged and knowledgable!”

Thank you to all the speakers in our series! MSCA will launch the Tech Speaker Series to 25-30 sites in the next school year. Just one way Mouse Squad is encouraging STEM learning!