From January 8-10, 2016, students from Western Australia, New York, and Philadelphia collaborated across the internet to solve global challenges using technology.  With the support of Microsoft, ILuka Resources as our host in Perth AU, and our US hosts, St. Joseph High School in Brooklyn and Penn Wood Middle School in Darby, PA., this program provided students an opportunity to explore coding HTML5 (the Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), two of the core technologies for building Web pages. HTML provides the structure of the page, CSS the (visual and aural) layout, for a variety of devices.

I ask my students and my team every day to “get uncomfortable to get comfortable.”  In order to move forward in life, you have to be willing to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone (“get uncomfortable”) to begin to feel comfortable with new ways of working or learning to do things differently. Today, I am practicing that by writing this blog post.  And I will be asking you to do the same as well (read until the end).  Our education system seems to be at a crossroads.  If you are a parent, a teacher, a board member, a business owner, a student, or anyone involved in working in or around our schools today, you are probably aware of this. 

If you have been reading my Giving Tuesday Student stories you have heard mention of the concept of getting uncomfortable to get comfortable. What exactly does that mean?    This is a message we express in all of the programs we deliver.  When you are learning something new it can feel quite uncomfortable.  Once you push yourself beyond your comfort zone or the boundaries of what you already know it can take on a feeling of awkwardness and make you want to run in the other direction.  But pushing yourself to let go of that sense or feeling allows you to open yourself to new knowledge. As you stretch into new territory whether it be learning a new skill, starting a new job, or reinventing yourself into an entirely new career your brain has to adjust to the new emotions that come along with it. 

My mom was very much a networker, someone who realized in order to be successful in business she needed to engage wherever possible to meet people that could support building her network of potential customers.  She was in the real estate market and belonged to a number of women's organizations as well as the chamber of commerce.  She modeled for me the value of building networks and that being successful meant you needed to get as much help as possible to support your goals. As I struggled to build my career she played a role in her network to introduce me to a business owner who ran a small business equipment supply store who then hired me.  That introduction was key to where I am today.  It was a stepping stone that helped lead me to my next opportunity and build a foundation of skills for me that allowed me to move to bigger opportunities.

Each day as we lead into Giving Tuesday I plan to share with you a story directly from a student on how our programs have impacted them at a personal level.  When I began this program three years ago it was about helping to change the lives of young students in positive ways.  About helping them understand the opportunities available to them in careers across STEAM and developing the skills necessary to succeed. 

In January of 2016, We Connect the Dots will be holding the 1st Annual International Back-to-School Hackathon, an event that will span nations and age groups around the globe, bringing together students from all walks of life to tackle global issues and learn invaluable technology skills. In an era where information technology rules the career landscape and greater numbers of jobs are requiring technology training, this event will be a giant leap forward for students that want an early start. 

An issue that nearly all parents, students, and professionals contend with is trying to determine what kinds of jobs are going to be available in the future, and of those jobs which are going to promise a rewarding career. Regardless of how that notion of reward is determined by different groups of people, it is one of the most frequently researched and appraised topics in the Unites States. It governs policy decisions, market trends, private and governmental spending, and education.

Where to begin? So much has happened over the last eight weeks that it seems like much longer since we last checked in.The successful completion of our summer conferences, the recruitment of new student ambassadors, and the planning of new innovative programs has kept WCTD very busy, while promising great things for the future. Each day WCTD makes new partnerships, new relationships, and meets more and more students that want to know what their future is going to look like. We have a very busy few months ahead of us, but lets take a look at the past few months first. 

We Connect the Dots recently funded a trip for one of our first ever Student Ambassadors, Caeley Looney, to attend the Inside 3D Printing Conference at the Javit's Center in NYC this past April. Hosted by Meckler Media, the I3D Print Conference was a gathering of the most innovative companies and individuals in the emerging world of 3D printing technology, and because our students has such a passion for the industry as a whole, her ask was for WCTD to fund her trip to the city to see it all happen.

We Connect The Dots, Inc. delivered their annual Discovery Day at the NYC Microsoft Time Square location on March 31, 2015.  Over 150 students and teachers from the surrounding NY Metro area attended the daylong program.  A unique and exciting experience, Discovery Day is not only a chance for students and professionals to learn from one another, it is also entirely coordinated by student volunteers from the WCTD leadership development program with assistance from the WCTD staff. Volunteers such as Think Productivity CEO, Laurie Carey support the 501(c)(3) not for profit organization’s mission to empower students by teaching 21st workforce skills and bringing awareness to the many career opportunities across STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math.  

As we wrap up the year and look ahead to 2015, we have another amazing year planned for our community. Our team has been hard at work collaborating and getting creative to broaden our reach and introduce new experiential learning programs. This past year WCTD delivered over ten programs both online and in person, impacting over five hundred students across the nation.  

New York, NY – December 8, 2014 – We Connect The Dots (WCTD), a non-profit supporting the advancement of STEAM careers, today announced that Felicia C. Guity PhD., GM Worldwide Channel Marketing at Microsoft, has joined its Board of Directors.