For students looking for a career in tech, unique program offers training — and a cash stipend

Yara Kemeh learned about Launchpad Philly after watching her friend who was a part of the organization give a presentation They had an app idea and they presented the app idea she revealed There s an audience and I was one of those in the audience supporting my friend And I saw a lot of women of color and people of color in this campaign and it encouraged me to come in since I m an Arab woman A graduate of The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts CAPA Kemeh focused on arts and graphic design in high school but has a long-standing interest in instrument I perpetually thought I didn t know enough or I didn t have information to veritably learn what the tech was about she stated I in recent weeks got a PC and I was trying to understand all the parts and how it s genuinely functioning and when I m getting errors how to fix it I have technically skilled friends and they would help me but I requested to learn on my own so I don t have to depend on others to learn these things and do all these technical aspects of it Yara Kemeh right works on preparing her app for Launchpad Philly s summer pitch competition Photo courtesy of Launchpad Philly She also wants to work toward a high-paying and fruitful career she stated This is where Launchpad Philly came in Launching careers Launchpad was started to empower those pursuing tech as a career mentioned its executive director Danyelle Austin Launchpad started about three years ago in response to this idea that countless young people don t consistently have access to a pathway that s going to lead to a high-paying job opportunity if they decide college is not the right fit for them she revealed And so over the last couple of years we ve been working with young people starting in high school and training them in the apparatus skills to help them get good-paying jobs In addition to tool skills it s a lot of durable skills communication problem-solving advancement mindset and asking for promotion and feedback The classes have several levels of curricula stated Nick Imparato Launchpad s project director For our high school-based programs Launchpad Foundations and Launchpad the main activities language we re teaching is Python he reported We picked Python because it s beginner-friendly and it has a ton of industry applications and a bunch of different career pathways Launchpad Philly has tangible workforce progress opportunities including workshops on relevant skills Photo courtesy of Launchpad Philly Launchpad Foundations comes first This is where Philly s th or th-graders get a glimpse of what the effort has to offer including college credit networking and touring local tech companies It s an opportunity to say I think I like tech Let me really see what that means Austin mentioned Several young people don t get access to that in high school And so it s a chance for them to come and just get a deep dive into lots of different technical things and then make a decision Beyond skills students at this stage receive up to in stipends From there Launchpad provides a more immersive experience The unit which is geared toward high school seniors involves a bigger commitment half-days during senior year Students in this phase will graduate with industry certification and close relationships with industry experts and internships At this level students receive up to in stipends Lift Off the final stage is the greater part hands-on Austin disclosed It s a full-time really intensive and immersive campaign where they re going deep into full-stack engineering with lots of AI skills built into that she revealed And the goal really is to get them right into high-paying job opportunities once they finish and graduate Students participating in this stage will receive up to in a paid hourly wage Kemeh is presently participating in Lift Off while studying at Philadelphia Locality College Kemeh far right working on Launchpad Philly projects Photo courtesy of Launchpad Philly The programs also leverage a variety of skills and tools like artificial intelligence and networking to help students feel more equipped Unique pathways Part of the Lift Off venture is creating cutting-edge content that will propel students to enter the workforce Imparato stated So not only can you build a website that looks good and is bug-free but also users who are using your site can maybe interact with the chatbot or get particular sort of feedback on documents that they re uploading he reported Kemeh was of late able to present an app through the activity that aligned with these goals Through my app I used AI as a chatbot to help prepare students with their resume-building skills how to negotiate salaries and pay and all the professional skills that you maybe need in a job that hasn t been taught in school she explained The other part of her application focuses on vetting job postings This includes weeding out out-of-date job postings and ensuring listings students apply for are verified She was also able to create connections through Launchpad that led to her current job One thing I really want to highlight that Launchpad really brought to the light that not a lot of people talk about is that networking is everything when it comes to getting jobs she reported I didn t know that and I just was taught to go to college and to get a job and that you re good to go But I didn t know at all about networking Austin reported the campaign uses a competency-based model While other workforce advancement programs may be focused on pushing students into jobs and checking boxes Launchpad equips students with lifelong skills It allows us to make sure young people are demonstrating and collecting evidence and able to talk about that evidence of how they re able to meet these skills and the requirements that employers are looking for she revealed So not just that every young person has a LinkedIn profile but that their LinkedIn profile is hitting on all of these really critical pieces that we think are vital and that are research-informed and industry-aligned The undertaking invests a lot of time in young people Imparato disclosed Photo courtesy of Launchpad Philly Imparato explained the project also invests a lot of time in young people For a young person who does all three programs they re going to be with us for two years plus an extra summer And so I think that s both like a firm commitment that we re putting out there to say Hey we will provide you with a structured curriculum and help and financial incentives for that length of time Austin reported the plan is currently funded through philanthropy foundations and individual donors and added that the organization is in the process of creating a social enterprise as an additional revenue stream The plan is open to any th- or th-grader or current high school graduate who lives in the city of Philadelphia No prior coding experience is required High school students can attend any kind of school whether it s a residents charter or virtual school The organization also provides info sessions to interested groups If folks would be interested in having us come in to do an info session whether it s at a school or community-based organization or anywhere with young people there s a Contact Us form on the website that they can use to reach out and we ll get in touch about coming in to do an info session he mentioned Applications for the next cohort will be due on Feb Imparato explained there is a short essay attached to the application and an interview process that follows The post For students looking for a career in tech unique effort offers training and a cash stipend appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY