On Thursday, AT&T’s Hispanic/Latino Association, HACEMOS, hosted its annual National High Technology Day across the United States. This campaign was established to bring excitement and inform Latino and other minority high school students about the different technology career options available to them.
According to HACEMOS’ National President, Delia Hernandez, many Latino students are not aware of all the different science and technology careers out there and consequently miss out on those opportunities. “We’re trying to change this through education,” added Hernandez.
Because the U.S. economy is becoming more and more technology dependent, HACEMOS finds that science, technology and internet based careers are crucial to the Latino community as well as other underrepresented ethnicities. According to the 2011 U.S. Census, Latinos only made up about 7 percent of the STEM workforce.
“Real-world experiences can be eye-opening for these young minds,” said Hernandez. “Exposing students to positive role models in science and technology is the first step.”
At AT&T’s National High Technology Day, students were introduced to mentors and role models that are part of the tech industry in addition to resources they can utilize to experiment and display their talents and skills with. These types of events allow young Latinos to not only view the behind-the-scenes details of the tech industry, but it allows them the opportunity to dream and pursue ambitions, something that, unfortunately, not all young Latinos are provided with.
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