NIST and Zayo Host YWCA's Virtual STEM E3 Jam Sessions for Students

Over the past month we kicked off our fall virtual STEM E3 programming with two amazing Jam Sessions with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Zayo Group!

For both Jam Sessions, over 20 young girls of color from Boulder Valley School District joined us online to learn from a panel of female employees. These women leaders talked about what they do, shared their career journeys and told the participants what they wish they had known when they were in middle school. The panel from NIST shared what NIST does as an organization dedicated to scientific measurement and technological excellence, and what they each do as scientists, physicists, workforce development managers, and more. The panel from Zayo Group explained Zayo's role in providing fiber internet to some of the largest businesses and companies in the world, and the panel of business, sales and lead generation experts talked about what they do, what they love about their jobs, and their career journeys.

At each Jam Session, our young participants then asked the panelists questions and the panelists talked about different challenges they overcame to get to where they are today. Following the panel, the students learned some building blocks of coding languages with CodeMonkey, a programming game for kids.We are thrilled with the participation of the students and the overwhelming response that nearly 100% indicated they are interested in joining our seven-week cohort program early next year. A big THANK YOU to our partner organizations, NIST and Zayo Group, for their help broadening the career horizons of our young participants!