Walther students in Grades 6-12 had the opportunity this fall to participate in the TechPowered STEM program presented by Exelon. The program, fully funded by Exelon and developed by Walther grad Kashanna Eiland ‘98, focuses on technology and the steps individuals need to take to land a career in this growing field.

Approximately 30 students from Walther took part in six sessions from September through November. The program began with a Collaborative Coding event in which students worked in teams creating code to navigate a robot ball through a maze. Justin (8th grader) and Jaiden (7th grader) agreed this was their favorite event. “After getting the robot ball through the maze, my group also figured out how to make it spin,” shared Justin.

The second session, titled Geek Speak, involved 4-5 professionals participating in a panel discussion on technology careers. The students were able to ask questions and found value in hearing the personal stories of the professionals.

The next three sessions were designed to prepare the students for a successful Job Shadowing experience, including a virtual meet and greet with the mentors that students would shadow in November, a session where the students did research on the career of whom they would be shadowing, and a session on corporate etiquette. The corporate etiquette included learning about the importance of shaking hands while greeting, maintaining eye contact when in a discussion, and developing their own “elevator pitch” about themselves and what interests them.

On November 14, the students spent the whole school day at Chase Tower in Chicago, shadowing their mentors. Some of the mentors were network engineers, project managers, programmers, and members of the communications department. Our students learned about these roles; some even sat in on team meetings. Jaiden shared, “Everything was modern, a lot of technology. I got to sit in on a meeting where they were talking about electricity.” Ms. Eiland shared that her team loved it. It was the mentors’ favorite event of the program.

Both our students and Ms. Eiland say they hope the program will be offered at Walther again next year. Jaiden shared, “It increased my interest in this area as a career.” Justin added, “I would be interested in doing it again and will recommend it to my friends.”

Check out the video below for more information on the program.

A special thanks to Kashanna Eiland and the whole team at Exelon for providing this program to our students. It is especially gratifying when Walther grads find unique ways to touch the lives of our current students.