Local nonprofit Tech Journey hosted its annual Tech Camp this year serving 120 students, a 20% increase over last year, organizers said.
Since 2013, Tech Journey invites a cohort of eighth and ninth grade students to Tech Camp, a summer camp experience for students to explore different technologies, including software, hardware and physical computing and web development.
It was held July 15-18 at Central Campus in Des Moines.
Sebastian Gran, a senior at Roosevelt, said he’s “always been interested in STEM, computers and engineering.”
Among his favorite experiences at Tech Camp include a class on cybersecurity and internet safety. He’s also used AI to program a robotic car to run on tracks, he said.
At camp, “you’re interacting with professionals in the industry,” he said.
He said he’s currently in pilot school but recently took a class on mechanics for aviation. He said Tech Camp “pushed me in the direction of more STEM-heavy fields.”
Tech Journey invites new students each year, but also extends the experience to the past four cohorts, so students can attend for up to five years. Students who attend three or more years are eligible to receive a scholarship upon high school graduation.
The program gives consideration to socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity and race in selection of the cohorts.
Over 80 local technology professionals volunteered during the camp this year. Several Iowa companies have joined together – John Deere, Vermeer, Farm Bureau Financial Services, Visionary, Businessolver and Lean Techniques through grants and sponsorships.
Topics this year included intro to coding and scratch, 3D modeling, intro to electronics and Github.
Historically, the camp has taught video design, web design, electronics and robots with the essential question: “What does it take to create a piece of technology?” said Ben Lors, a principal architect at John Deere who has worked with Tech Camp since the beginning.
He said Tech Camp is inspiring in a couple of ways.
“First, seeing students find something in technology they are talented at never gets old,” he said. “For many of these students, Tech Camp is the first time they get hands on with a technical topic. And when you see that click with them, it is incredibly inspiring to see a life change.”
As a leader in a tech field, Lors said it’s inspiring to see more students express an interest in a tech career.
“We continue to need more diversity within technology careers, so the more diversity we can get into that funnel, the better we will be across the industry.”
Michael Mila came back to volunteer at the camp after participating as a student. He’s currently an application developer at Farm Bureau.
“Tech Camp introduced me to the world of IT, it introduced me to programming, problem-solving,” he said. “This gives you more exposure.”
The target demographic for Tech Camp is the underserved and underrepresented in tech. According to Tech Journey’s website, at the 2020 camp, 55% of students attending were female, and the ethnic breakdown was Asian (26%), Black (14%), Hispanic/Latino (21%) and 39% white or other.