Summer of 2020 has been busier than ever at Mouse. In partnership with Verizon, the NY Tech Alliance and the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), over 750 high school students have spent their summers developing technology skills and connecting with industry professionals through Mouse’s remote learning programs.

Design League students at New York Tech Meetup

Student innovators from Mouse’s after school Design League program, America On Tech, BridgeUP: STEM (from American Museum of Natural History) were invited to present their tech inventions at NY Tech Meetup on August 11, 2020. Three Mouse Design League teams showcased apps they developed over the past school year which address challenges for people with disabilities and for educators teaching remotely.

Student presenters also discussed their experiences designing tech innovations while quarantined.

• Watch the student presentations here.
• Learn more about the Design League projects that were presented here.

Mouse “Virtual Spaces for Social Justice” Camp for Indigenous Youth, Sponsored by Verizon

At Mouse’s two day “Virtual Spaces for Social Justice” summer camp, students from Indigenous communities in North Carolina learned to use Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) for social good. Students created their own virtual safe spaces in CoSpaces and designed social justice themed Instagram filters that bring attention to a social issue.

At the end of the camp, student feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Students thanked their facilitators for the opportunity to learn creative AR/VR skills about relevant social justice topics and to meet and learn about career pathways with Verizon employees during the AMA session with them.

SYEP/Summer Bridge

Mouse has had the opportunity to support implementation of the SYEP Summer Bridge 2020 program as a project-based learning content provider. In addition to completing the work readiness program led by Hats & Ladders and your Workplace Challenge program with an industry partner, Mouse’s digital courses has helped over 750 Summer Bridge youth from organizations like CAMBA, Catholic Charities, Bronxworks, Henry Street Settlement, and HANAC to create a shareable digital portfolio filled with creative technology projects they’ve completed throughout the summer.

In addition to providing applied technology courses via Mouse Create, Mouse has hosted a weekly livestreamed tech career AMA series on YouTube to connect Summer Bridge students with a diverse group of tech professionals. Professionals, including Mouse alumni Juan Garzon describe their career pathways and respond to student questions. Every streamed AMA session was filled with questions from youths of various Summer Bridge programs.

Students can watch recordings of each AMA session here:

• Wednesday, July 29th at 4pm - Juan Garzon, Full Stack Developer at iCapital Network, Mouse Alum (Watch on YouTube Live)
• Wednesday, August 5th at 4pm - Eve Ahearn, Senior Product Manager, Etsy.com (Watch on YouTube Live)
• Wednesday, August 12th at 4pm - Shane Garraway, Mechanical Engineer, Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) (Watch on YouTube Live)
• Wednesday, August 19th at 4pm - Dyalekt Kushner & Andrea Ferraro connect Hip Hop + Finance at Pockets Change (Watch on YouTube Live)
• Wednesday, August 26th at 4pm - Karen Caramasa Angelo, Product Designer, Haven Life (Watch on YouTube Live)

Thank you to all the professionals who’ve shared their experience and career advice with Mouse youth in our AMAs series. We are looking forward to setting up more Tech Career AMA sessions in the future! Contact us here if you are interested in sponsoring or presenting at an AMA session. See our Summer 2020 activities with educators here.