Last summer, a student team from Watsonville High in
Watsonville, California, participated in a special TEC
summer program. They built a mobile app to help other
students in their school navigate the path to college. Their
work was recognized in a national competition spon-
sored by the Entertainment Software Association and the
Hispanic Heritage Foundation.
In December, two of the students were invited to travel
to Washington, D.C., with other national winners. The
TEC students networked with peers and met with mem-
bers of Congress and the White House Office of Science
and Technology. Their team was selected to demonstrate
their project during the official briefing to White House
staff.
The experience was inspiring and transformative
for the students. They did a tremendous job represent-
ing TEC, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District and
Watsonville High School. Their success and poise affirm
how important it is to provide opportunity and inspira-
tion to under-represented youth.
TEC’s goal for next summer is to identify youth at all
three high schools in the district to participate in the pro-
gram and create a custom app for each school.
ETR’S TEC GOES TO THE WHITE HOUSE!
National Recognition for Our Award-Winning Program
“
The girl who came with us had never even been on a
plane before. During the flight to D.C., she talked about
her plans to attend a local community college. After all of
these fantastic experiences in Washington, she spent the
flight back talking about planning to attend someplace
like MIT, Stanford or the University of California.”
Jacob Martinez, MIST
TEC Project Manager
“
[At the White House briefing] we talked about the
importance of our game and how it was going to benefit
our community. We also mentioned how the TEC
program was going to help students from elementary
school get involved with computers.… I was able to meet
very important people to us, because they will now be able
to help our program and help us later in our lives when it
comes to our education and future careers.”
Morelia Lopez
TEC student
5
Quarterly Review
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WINTER 201
