National High Tech Day Inspires Young Latinos

By Victor Landa, NewsTaco

It’s not lost on Latino educators, community and industry leaders that a major part of preparing young Latinos for careers in the 21st century involves science, technology, engineering, and math – the four columns of the education structure commonly called STEM.

At NewsTaco we’ve made it a priority to highlight news about STEM as it pertains to Latinos and to shine a light on organizations that take it upon themselves to carry the STEM effort forward – we feel it’s that important to the future of our community. HACEMOS, AT&T’s Latino Association, has done just that.

For 15 years HACEMOS has hosted National High Technology Day, where they engage students at risk of dropping out of high school in hands-on technical activities and interactive workshops designed to encourage them to consider careers in science and technology. This year’s event hosted about 1,800 teens in 31 cities across the country. The event wwas held in Miami and Houston on March 7, 2013.

In more than half of the participating chapters, HACEMOS will collaborate with AT&T Aspire Mentoring Academy, the key community engagement program of AT&T’s $350 million investment in Aspire, which is focused on high school success leading to college and career readiness. Through Aspire Mentoring Academy, AT&T employees are engaging in their communities and providing 1 million hours of mentoring to students at risk of dropping out of high school.

HACEMOS National High Technology Day is designed to give students insight into the many opportunities available in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields—areas where Latinos and other minorities have historically been underrepresented. HACEMOS aims to build stronger communities by providing positive role models and demonstrating the importance of education to achieve success in life.

“We’re thrilled to once again offer our future leaders real-world insight and guidance by offering them full access to our company’s senior leaders, employees, and program speakers,” said Delia Hernandez, National President of HACEMOS, the Hispanic/Latino Association of AT&T.  “Careers in science and engineering are extremely rewarding and we hope to spark our participants’ interest in these fields.”

The theme for this year’s National High Tech Day was Awaken Your Dreams, intended to expose student participants to opportunities in technology fields, the prevalence of technology in their future and the importance of specialized skills and higher education.

Programming will vary by location and include an introduction to circuitry and workshops featuring cyber security, mobility and AT&T U-verse^® technologies. In addition, there will be specialty tours, keynotes from top AT&T executives and students will connect with other high schools using AT&T Telepresence Solution®, AT&T’s advanced, high definition videoconferencing service.  Students will also have the opportunity to simulate the dangers of texting while driving through AT&T’s It Can Wait campaign.

HACEMOS National High Tech Day broadcast two live national webcasts featuring the youth engagement company CoolSpeak. Motivational speakers from CoolSpeak included Carlos Ojeda, Jr. in Middletown, NJ, Lilyan Prado Carillo in Dallas and Ernesto Mejia in Chicago. They delivered messages of education, leadership, community activism and entrepreneurship on the webcasts, available to participating HACEMOS chapters and schools nationwide.

In Miami, the event featured Fernando Fiore, an Emmy award winning broadcaster, who is the host of “República Deportiva” (Sports Republic), the top-rated weekly sports entertainment program airing on the Univision Network.  Mr. Fiore covers sporting events around the world for Univision Deportes, the sports arm of Univision Communications Inc.

HACEMOS chapters also featured remarks and presentations by various AT&T leaders including Carmen Nava, Senior VP – Customer Experience; Marian Croak, Senior VP – Applications & Services Infrastructure; David Christopher – Chief Marketing Officer; Marissa Shorenstein, President – New York; and Rodney Smith, President – Connecticut.  José M. Gutiérrez, President – Wholesale Solutions, and Glenn Lurie, President Emerging Enterprise and Partnership, made significant contributions to support the event.

• Atlanta, Georgia
• Austin, Texas
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Chicago, Illinois
• Corpus Christi, Texas
• Dallas, Texas
• Fresno, California
• Ft. Worth, Texas
• Houston, Texas
• Joplin, Missouri
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Lake Mary, Florida
• Los Angeles, California
• Lubbock, Texas
• Mesa, Arizona
• Miami, Florida
• Middletown, New Jersey
• New Haven, Connecticut
• New York, New York
• Norman, Oklahoma
• Orange County, California
• Sacramento, California
• San Antonio, Texas
• San Diego, California
• San Juan, Puerto Rico
• San Ramon, California
• Southfield, Michigan
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Tampa, Florida
• Washington, D.C.
• Whitehall, Pennsylvania

(AT&T’s Hispanic/Latino Association HACEMOS, with approximately 5,000 members, recognizes the importance of educating Hispanic youth and preparing them for a technology-intensive future. Its members are dedicated to developing and supporting technology education projects in communities where they live and work. For more information about National High Technology Day, please visit HACEMOS. )