New York City: Creating a Young Tech Based Creative Class Through Education

[stephendare]

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/07/11/nyc-generation-tech-a-new-initiative-to-turn-high-schoolers-into-tech-innovators/



Following New York’s plan to create several specialized tech high schools backed by Fred Wilson and Bloomberg, the city has just announced a program aimed at turning high school students into tech innovators. Yes, this may be the absolute best time and place to be a geek at 16.

The program, NYC Generation Tech (NYCGT), will provide “hands-on learning experiences and mentorship opportunities for New York City high school students interested in transforming the world through tech-based innovations.” There are two different programs planned: A 10 day, full time summer bootcamp and a series of after school sessions occurring later on this September.

NYCGT will be free and is currently accepting applications here until July 20th from students who will be in the 10th/11th grade during the 2012-13 school year. The number of students that will be accepted has not been disclosed.

Here are the eligibility requirements:

Students who will be in the 10th or 11th grade in the 2012-13 school year
Attend a NYC school with over 50% of students qualifying for free or reduced lunch OR personally qualify for free or reduced lunch
Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
Minimum 90% attendance during 2012-13 school year
Strong interest in technology and entrepreneurship
Availability to attend all program sessions


As for non-students, NYCGT is also searching for volunteers in the form of student mentors, tech mentors and guest speakers. To learn more about volunteering, check out this page.

Keep in mind that this is just a pilot program, so the first time around will likely resemble a beta test. That said, it’s amazing to see so much interest in transforming students across this city.

As we’ve written before, NY’s greatest barrier to becoming a dominant tech hub is its talent drought. Solving that problem at its source is an excellent way to grow.

[simms3]

My former roommate was a teacher at a local tech high school here that was just announced as closed for next school year following massive budget cuts in response to greatly reduced tax revenue.  It was a tech charter high school that had programs in partnership with Georgia Tech and all the students were from lower income families.

Jacksonville has an art-focused high school and middle school (which are great...DA has a great rep), but I can't recall if it has any other specialty schools.  The plan out of NYC is a great program being replicated in many of the larger cities, but it takes a lot of money, often from private sector donation (aka Fred Wilson and Michael Bloomberg in NYC).  A couple of my college fraternity brothers came out of the Thomas Jefferson School in Virginia, a PUBLIC math/science oriented school that basically sends all of its students to any of the top universities of their choice.

[Jason]

Douglas Anderson is the art school and the only other "special" school I'm aware of is Stanton (college prep).

Well, there is the magnet program.

[finehoe]

Here's another Bloomberg initiative to rev up the tech sector in NYC:

http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/152760/cornell-wins-bid-for-roosevelt-island-tech-campus/

Jacksonville should look into doing something similar, except with health care.  We already have many of the pieces.  A coordinated push from the city could be all we need.

[JeffreyS]

Douglas Anderson is the art school and the only other "special" school I'm aware of is Stanton (college prep).

Well, there is the magnet program.

Paxson is basically the same program as Stanton.