Verizon Innovative Learning Program
2019-06-10 - 2019-06-28 | HCC Plant City Campus
Verizon Innovative Learning

Middle Schools Girls entering 6th, 7th, and 8th

Monday Friday, June 10 June 28

8:30am 4:30pm

Breakfast/Lunch included

FREE Verizon Tablet

HCC's Kids College Brings New Technology Program to the Plant City Campus Aimed at Middle School Girls

The Verizon Innovative Learning Program Will Introduce Augmented Reality, 3D Printing, Entrepreneurship and More to Prepare Girls for the Tech Careers of the Future

Plant City, FL, This summer, Hillsborough Community College will join Verizon Innovative Learning, an education initiative of the Verizon Foundation, to introduce more girls, especially those in rural parts of the country, to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.

Launched in partnership with the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the 2-year program was piloted last summer at five community colleges and will expand to 16 community colleges, engaging over 1,500 students.

Kicking off this summer with a three-week intensive learning experience, 100 girls from local middle schools across Plant City and surrounding rural areas will attend courses at HCC's Plant City Campus in augmented and virtual reality, coding, 3D design, entrepreneurship and design thinking principles free of charge. The students will continue to participate in monthly sessions throughout the academic year where they will develop a technology solution for a community problem that aligns with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Focus areas of the SDGs include poverty reduction, quality education, good health and well-being, climate action, peace and justice or gender equality.

"We are extremely proud to be a part of this vital program benefiting middle school girls in our local community," said Ryan Buckthorpe, Director, HCC Institute for Corporate & Continuing Education. "We will employ the organizational expertise of our successful HCC Kids' College program, the experience of our Center for Entrepreneurship, and the vast resources and community knowledge of our Plant City Campus."

Women continue to be underrepresented in STEM careers, where a staggering 86 percent of engineers and 74 percent of computer professionals are men. The percentage of women in STEM careers has not improved since 2001, specifically within the engineering (12 percent) and computing (26 percent) workforces.1 As a member organization of more than 300 community colleges across the country, NACCE is dedicated to supporting job creation and entrepreneurs in local communities.

Verizon Innovative Learning gives free technology, free access and innovative curricula to students impacted by the digital divide to help them realize a brighter future. To date, Verizon has invested $200 million in this initiative and has reached more than one million students. Learn more at www.VerizonInnovativeLearning.com.

To learn more about this exciting opportunity for middle school girls in our community, please contact HCC Kids' College at kidscollege@hccfl.edu or by phone at 813.259.6010. To register, visit www.nacce.com/STEM4Girls and learn more about Verizon Innovative Learning.

About Verizon Innovative Learning

Verizon Innovative Learning, the education initiative of the Verizon Foundation, brings technology and hands-on learning opportunities to middle and high school students in underserved schools and communities. We not only fund the programs, but we also create and administer them in partnership with leading nonprofits. We diligently measure the impact of our work and refine our programs to ensure we're making a difference. We've reached more than 1 million students so far and we're just getting started. For more information about Verizon's philanthropic work, visit www.verizon.com/about/responsibility; or for regular updates, visit Facebook (www.facebook.com/verizonfoundation) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/VZFoundation).

1 Change the Equation, The Diversity Dilemma, 2015. http://changetheequation.org/sites/default/files/2015%20Solving%20the%20Diversity%20Dilemma%20FINAL%206.2015.pdf

2 Work to Do, Carnegie Science Center, 2014. http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/csc_content/stemcenter/pdf/Work_to_Do_The_Role_of_STEM_Education_in_Improving_the_Tri-State_Regions_Workforce.pdf
