Crain's: Inaugural Ohio Tech Day seeks to seed state's digital workforce
By Judy Stringer
September 18, 2021
On Friday, Sept. 24, technology trainer Tondi Allen expects about 45 inner-city students — many of them from nearby John F. Kennedy High School — to stroll into her Cleveland Heights nonprofit, Urban City Codes, for a glimpse into "up-and-coming technology careers," she said.
Workstations will expose the students to different pathways, from AI and robotics to data mining, programming and tech support.
"We want them to see these technologies first-hand and try them out," she said. "I would describe it as a discovery day for technology careers. … What we are really trying to do is give our Black and Brown community open access to learning about all the different types of tech careers, so they can start focusing on their future."
Allen's souped-up career day is one of dozens of activities slated statewide for the inaugural Ohio Tech Day on Sept. 24. Spearheaded by the Columbus-based technology trade group OhioX, the day begins with a free two-hour virtual presentation for high school students starting at 8:30 a.m. It will feature guest appearances by tech leaders and a teen-led tech roundtable conversation.
Afterward, students are invited to engage in meetings and activities — virtual or in-person — that were created individually by schools, businesses and nonprofits across the state.
OhioX president Chris Berry said about 75 organizations had signed on as Ohio Tech Day "partners" before Labor Day, meaning they are planning to officially participate in what he calls "a statewide celebration of technology in Ohio." He expects that figure to climb as the event draws nearer and added that it does not account for classrooms, teachers or students who may log into the main public event or take advantage of the many privately hosted activities, even though their schools did not register as partners.
Building for the future
Still, organizers are not necessarily focused on numbers just yet.
"The reality is that we are building this for the future," Berry said. "We want this to be an annual event that people can look forward to and can plan around."
And, he said, the program is as much about building resources to help "kids get excited about tech" as it is the day itself. The main live event and many of the subsequent smaller activities will be cataloged on the Ohio Tech Day website, where teachers and students can access them anytime on-demand. (Go to ohiotechday.org to register and learn more about the offerings.)
"While Sept. 24 is the celebration day, and that helps from both an organizational standpoint and for building up some urgency and excitement, we are already having conversations about and trying to figure out how this work lives year-round," Berry said.
Ohio Tech Day was the brainchild of OhioX's Education and Workforce Committee. Jessica Cohen, the Cleveland-based director of community engagement for Verizon, is part of the committee.
Cohen said the wireless network operator employs roughly 2,300 people in Ohio and pre-COVID would routinely schedule career-day-type visits "with a number of schools" across the state. She sees Sept. 24 as a chance to "expand the reach of what we've been doing with some schools and to really be part of the resources of Ohio Tech Day and share that across the state," she said.
As part of its Tech Day contributions, Verizon plans to premiere self-produced educational videos about 5G to help teachers and students alike get more familiar with the technology and what it means to those who will be entering the workforce. The company also recently debuted a free online portal, Verizon Innovative Learning HQ, that offers STEM lesson plans and credentialed professional development opportunities for educators.
"Ohio Tech Day is going to allow us to share that new resource with a much broader audience than we could have done by reaching out to school districts one by one," Cohen said.
Berry said he's been impressed with the time and effort Ohio businesses have put into creating their individual Tech Day activities. One example is a coding tutorial designed by Cincinnati-based Joot and Dolr of Columbus, in which participants learn how to use the R programming language to create an interactive Ohio scholarship map from publicly available data.
"In another case, Ohio State (University) is going to build out an event of virtual conversations with some of their students who are doing interesting stuff with technology to show high school students that if you come to Ohio State, this is what you'll be able to experience and witness and participate in as part of your education," he said.
Two birds, one stone
The OhioX leader envisions Tech Day having a positive talent impact in two ways.
On one hand, Berry said, much of the event will be accessible to anyone "with a laptop and an internet connection." That increases the chances, he said, of exposing students, especially those in under-resourced communities, to advanced technologies they haven't traditionally been able to access at school.
"It becomes a part of the inclusion piece, which is so important to workforce development," Berry said, "much like the work that Urban City Codes is doing up in Cleveland."
Meanwhile, Ohio students already interested in technology classes and/or careers will get a chance to see technology professionals who live and work in their communities or the state.
"We want to show them that they don't have to leave home to build a successful career in tech," he said.
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