Conference Recap: CompuPower

At the 2018 Women of Color STEM Entrepreneurship Conference, we had both a special panel on CompuPower and a special workshop attended by CompuPower students from our partner schools.

Laila Sarah, Assistant Director, Capacity Building, presented on the CompuPower program, with specific discussions about lessons learned and steps CGEST has taken to grow the program since its first pilot year. Among the points covered were a shift in the curriculum to focus more on power, of students, their families, and their communities, growing industry partnerships, and feedback on the industry mentor program. Also on the panel were Matt Lersch, Vice Principal of South Mountain High School, and Heather Jancowski, one of the Mentor-Teachers.

In a series of interviews with CGEST staff, current CompuPower students shared that the CompuPower program has changed their thoughts on STEM in different ways, such as "telling me about the internet today and telling me about what should I protect myself from" and "It inspired me to do the thing that I’ve been wanting to do." One student "found it helpful because it was kind of information of things that I would need in real life."

Many thanks to all the people who helped make the visit by CompuPower students happen - they were a vibrant addition to our conference. And thanks to our CompuPower panel for sharing about the program!