Thanks to a generous $25,000 grant from Meta, AIM will deliver its Youth in Tech program for students of the Papillion La Vista Community School District. near Meta’s data center in Sarpy County. Youth in Tech sparks curiosity and builds foundational tech skills during critical interest-forming ages to lay the foundation for a stronger, more diverse tech community for years to come. Through fun, hands-on activities—such as drone piloting, 3D printing, robotics, and basic coding—Youth in Tech cultivates long-term interest in technology and encourages inquisitiveness about tech careers.
AIM Code School, a Nebraska State Department of Education accredited school, launched two technical training cohorts shortly after the new year. First, its Foundations of Technology cohort helped participants navigate through the basics of technology including: networking, IT infrastructure, at- home troubleshooting and WordPress site creation. The instructor facilitated the class in a Spanish/English bilingual format, making this AIM’s first bilingual course offering, which received positive feedback from students.
AIM’s popular Foundations of Web Development certified participants all with refugee status. Students learned to produce front-end code necessary for website creation. Additionally, this skill set allows students to begin creating work samples that can be used to network with and apply to local tech companies. AIM’s community partner, International Council for Refugees and Immigrants, connected these participants with AIM. This class included students from Afghanistan, Burkina Faso and Tajikistan.
Throughout June, AIM’s College and Tech Access program hosted 17 middle and high school students from Omaha and Council Bluffs school districts to participate in the Google Code Next Summer Academy.
Students were able to engage in an intensive learning program focused on front-end programming skills including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This group of students submitted final projects featuring their own e-commerce websites. The websites are impressive with multiple built-out tabs, links, and other design features.
AIM has completed year two of a three-year grant funded by Google, which brings front-end coding skills to the fingertips of college-bound students. The curriculum is fully developed by Google Programmers, called Googlers. Students were able to interact with local Google employees throughout the duration of the Summer Academy held at AIM.