By Chronicle Staff
More than 150 Detroit area high school students gathered on Friday, Oct. 18 at Wayne State University for the 2nd annual AT&T Believe Detroit Technology Challenge. The event, hosted by AT&T together with Rebrand Cities and WordPress.com, encouraged high school juniors and seniors to consider technology and web development as a career path.
Participants came from five Detroit area high schools including Cass Tech, Henry Ford, Communication and Media Arts, Detroit Edison and Michigan Math and Science Academy. During the event, the students learned to build mobile-friendly WordPress.com websites, and worked alongside experienced developers to create websites around two important initiatives.
AT&T Michigan President David Lewis said: “Giving young Detroiters hands-on experience with technology can open their eyes to great opportunities they can pursue after high school. The Believe Detroit Technology Challenge can be a gateway to a great future for these young people and our AT&T team was proud to make this experience possible for 150 students this year.”
Students were assigned one of two topics for the challenge: The first was AT&T’s distracted driving campaign – It Can Wait, which encourages people to put their phones down to create safer roads for everyone. The effort reminds people that all messages that come in while driving ‘can wait’ until you arrive safely. The second was Detroit Pistons Basketball For All, a neighborhood court initiative aimed to refurbish 60 basketball courts around the city of Detroit so that more young people can play basketball and stay out of trouble. The initiative aims to put basketballs in the hands of underserved youth in the city.
During the event, students were also learned from a panel of area leaders including Lewis, former NFL player and Chairman of Qey Capital Dhani Jones, Detroit Pistons VP of Brand Strategy Alicia Jeffreys and Rebrand Cities founder Hajj Flemings. The leaders encouraged students to pursue their dreams and think outside of the box when thinking about what they want to do with their lives because anything is possible if you work for it. Lewis said he was sure a future president of AT&T Michigan was in the room.
Flemings talked about the importance of the challenge: “The Believe Detroit Technology Challenge is all about preparing Detroit students for in-demand jobs in technology and web development. Giving students a roadmap to a potential career path will help them design the future and that’s why we’re proud to partner with AT&T and WordPress for this effort.”
AT&T contributed $50,000 to make the Technology Challenge a possibility. The challenge is a part of AT&T Michigan’s Believe Detroit initiative, a community and employee engagement initiative focused on helping promote educational opportunities, academic achievement, and a path to self-sufficiency for the Detroit community.
AT&T employees took time off work to volunteer and help the students begin building websites during the challenge. The all-day event taught students the basics of WordPress web building and students will have additional sessions with the Rebrand Cities teams to complete their websites.
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