Our Mouse Corps had an outstanding summer, with many building upon their technology and design skills, and developing new relationships with contacts in the professional world!

Many Mouse Corps members participated in summer apprenticeships, where they were paired with technology mentors, and had the unique opportunity to experience the professional world and work on authentic technology projects.

Mouse Corps students can apply for apprenticeships in different applied technology fields, including game design, app development, 3D printing, programming, assistive/adaptive tech and physical computing.

This year, Mouse Corps members had apprenticeships with Cloudhead ART, EDC Center for Children & Technology, DoITT, LivePerson, Time Inc., REV, ROKO Labs, Storefront Science and WNET. In the past, our Mouse Corps have also partnered with mentors from Citigroup, Hive NYC Learning Network, New York City Council, Tekserve and McGraw-Hill.

Here are a just a few of the many and very meaningful experiences had by our Mouse Corps members:

Erik, a 12th grade Mouse Corps member, had the opportunity to apprentice at the WNET Education Department.

In his thank you note to Carole Wacey, VP Education (and Mouse Board Member), Erik wrote, "This experience has made me more conscious of how much media effects myself and how technology affects media. It also helped me to understand how much effort from so many different people goes into the production of media, and I think a lot more about how things I watch were made."

Erik added, "WNET was a great, professional work environment and also makes a lot of great programs.  I feel really lucky that I got to have the opportunity to apprentice with [WNET]."

Zainab, 12th grade Mouse Corps member, participated in an apprenticeship at the tech startup ROKO Labs, a mobile strategy and development consultancy. Zainab was involved in product testing, created landing pages and attended meetings with clients. She also had the opportunity to attend an event at Twitter with her mentor Amy Kadomatsu, founder and COO of ROKO Labs.

The bond formed between an apprentice and mentor is not only a learning experience for the apprentice, it also can have a positive impact on the organization with whom they partner. Raziye, a 12th grade Mouse Corps member spent her apprenticeship at DoITT, the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.

When discussing Raziye’s accomplishments at DoITT, Larissa Zhurakovskaya, Raziye’s mentor, stated “the projects she successfully completed this summer were analyst-level projects that will likely save the City thousands of dollars in the long run.”

While at Storefront Science, Hiram helped run a six-week science and technology summer camp. 

The apprenticeships helped Hiram to build professional experience as well as inspired him to explore his future career path. “This definitely makes me want to pursue something that will benefit everyone and not just myself,” Hiram stated. “My favorite part of my internship is watching a child being so eager to learn. It's inspiring to watch new generations want to do complicated things and not be scared by the challenge."

Our thanks to our Apprenticeship mentors for helping our Mouse Corps members to open new doors and experience potential career fields in technology. We are thrilled to see the long lasting bonds our students form with their mentors, which are relationships that will benefit them for years to come.