AT&T gift to help students get STEM skills

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Oak Hill Collaborative, AT&T and Youngstown State University are bringing more programming classes to local students through the High School Video Game Jam: Oak Hill.

A $10,000 contribution Thursday from AT&T to the collaborative is supporting the project as part of Aspire, the company’s initiative to help provide access to computer and science education and training needed to get and keep good jobs.

Oak Hill Collaborative is launching an interactive STEM program in which high-school students from the city will learn C++ programming language and object-oriented programming skills through development of video games with the assistance and guidance of experienced game developers and computer science professionals. The program will begin in September.

“For our community to continue to succeed in the 21st century, our students and our workforce need digital skills like these,” Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said.

“It’s great to see Oak Hill, AT&T and YSU working together to create opportunities for people to move into rewarding careers.”

“AT&T shares our goal of promoting innovation and interest in technology jobs,” said Pat Kerrigan, executive director of the Oak Hill Collaborative. “They are a longtime partner of ours, and we are excited to have their support for this initiative that will benefit both our young people and the future of Youngstown. And we are pleased to have the support from YSU. It’s a great collaboration.”