Narrowing the digital divide
Latinos are vastly underrepresented in technology
education and careers. Latino students from immigrant
and working class backgrounds are less likely to have
experience in technology education or know about the
benefits of career and college paths.
Watsonville TEC (WTEC), funded in part by the National
Science Foundation, aims to build community capacity and
support to create career pathways in information
technology for underrepresented Latino youth.
Making it work by making it matter
It’s difficult to engage students who’ve been left behind in
tech education. WTEC and its associated programs use
creative and culturally sensitive strategies to involve kids
and move their skills and confidence forward.
Students participate in online and face-to-face activities.
They join an online community of peers, near peers and
role models. They work in teams to achieve challenging
goals. They pursue projects that are exciting, empowering,
and just plain cool for preteens and teens.
They get support to develop academic fundamentals
that keep their tech skills growing.
Giving underrepresented youth the confidence
and skills they need for today’s technological world
Watsonville TEC
Tecnología
Educación
Comunidad
We work with middle school students
who don’t know how to use a mouse.
If we tell them to download something,
they say, ‘What’s that mean?’
They’re teenagers and they’ve
never downloaded anything
before. That’s how little
experience they’ve been given!
Jacob Martinez
Director, Watsonville TEC
game design, 3D animation, website development
Best practices
In 2010, WTEC’s middle school program
Girl Game Company was nationally recognized as
a Best Practices program in K-12 Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education by
the Making Science Make Sense initiative.
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