2019 is going to be an amazing year for our organization and we need your help to continue to drive results. Starting tomorrow you will begin to see and hear some exciting news regarding our progress as an organization and the work we have accomplished. We have our upcoming Code-A-Thon program that is now in its fourth year of running. Normally we would send out our metrics post the program to share with our sponsors and supporters of our organization. This year I thought we might take a different approach and share some metrics earlier, with the goal to get more sponsors to help support our success.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

2018 Back-To-School Code-A-Thon

This year's program was exciting, exhausting, and just all-out fun. Each year we challenge students to get out of their comfort zone by meeting new students, learning to work as a team, and solve global problems.  These are the same requests business owners today ask of their newly hired employees.  The Code-A-Thon program provides students an opportunity to explore real-world problems and gain an understanding of what life is like to work in a diverse team that must first learn together and then demonstrates their new-found skills as a team to solve a problem that they have determined will have global impact to society.

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AuthorLaurie Carey
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Reflection provides the opportunity to look within, to see how much you have changed, and the impact you have created.  This year stands out to have the greatest growth in volunteers we have had in our five years as an organization. Volunteers who want to be a part of transforming education, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to be exposed to immersive STEAM programs. Volunteering at WCTD is more than just giving, it is also the opportunity to learn and be a part of an innovative community that works together to explore new technology, and learn together.

Four years ago, CreatingSTEAM was a concept and an experiment. We knew education had to change. Could education evolve to a new form of meaningful student engagement and exploration? Our hypothesis was that through immersive hands-on project-based experiential learning, education could motivate, inspire, and transform students into independent life-long learners.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

Week One of Creating S.T.E.A.M. 2017!

We wanted to provide you and update on the CreatingSTEAM program and our first-week summary. Week one was a big success, students arrive by bus each day from Long Island to the Microsoft facility in Times Square NYC.  The students join with other students from the NY Metro area, coming in from NJ and the NYC communities.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

2016, in our fourth year as an organization, WCTD celebrated our first official CAP Alumni student, Luis Tolosa.  Luis came to us through a referral from another Long Island not for profit organization, who shared with him the opportunity to be a part of our student program. He was the second student to be invited to shape what is today our Community Ambassador Program. He was immersed in technology and leadership experiences beginning on a trip to Philadelphia, where Luis lead a program teaching 100 plus students how to design video games using XboxOne. This once shy student quickly demonstrated that he was a natural at teaching.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

As I reflect on 2016, I would like to share with our community our organizational changes, our growth, and a look ahead into 2017. Instead of creating one long blog post that would be difficult for most busy people to find the time to consume, I will be posting a series of short blogs to ensure that each update gets the attention it deserves. I hope you find it informative and valuable. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey

I recently had the pleasure of delivering a youth Robotics program, and I was inspired by two young female participants in particular.  A 14-year-old middle school student and a college student, who is aspiring to become a math teacher, worked together as a team for five days to learn about Robotics.  What I observed during their time together was a strong interest in learning and their ability to overcome obstacles to reach their goals. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey

Another year of CreatingSTEAM has passed and it is with deep emotion that our team separates after almost three weeks of preparing, training, and then delivering an incredible ten-day program for students ages 13-18 years old.  Students enter the first day confused, nervous, and unsure of what to expect.  They exit energized, more mature, with new friendships, mentors, and empowered to continue learning. How can all this be possible in just 10 days, you might ask? In its third year of development and continuing to be shaped each year this immersive program challenges students to find their strengths and stretch outside their comfort zones. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey

CreatingSTEAM 2016 is quickly approaching. In just a few weeks, students from all across the New York Metro Area will arrive at Microsoft NYC for two weeks of immersive STEAM learning, team building, and entrepreneurial challenges, working together to solve real problems facing humanity and learning valuable skills for the future. This year, students will also enjoy working with our international partners from Australia, as their team of students, teachers, and industry professionals will be joining us for the program to see how the model can be applied back at home. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey
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We Connect The Dots Founder and Executive Director, Laurie Carey, recently joined journalist and innovative problem solver, Devin Thorpe, to discuss how we can be better communicators, thinkers, and professionals in a fast-paced, technology-dependent world. By disrupting the status quo and diversifying - not only in our professional workplace but also in our personal relationships - we can benefit from differing perspectives, fostering innovation, and positive change. 

Each year, We Connect The Dots holds an event at the Microsoft offices in New York City that invites schools from around the NY Metro area to participate in a full day of immersive, experiential learning and 21st century career awareness. This year's program was one of the most successful Discovery Day events held since its inception, with a turnout of six different school districts, totaling at over 175 students, teachers, administrators, and professionals that joined us for this innovative program.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

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.

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AuthorLaurie Carey

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. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey

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. 

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AuthorLaurie Carey

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.

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AuthorLaurie Carey