By: Demetrius Dillard | The Baltimore Times
Date: Friday, April 19, 2024
The Hidden Genius Project, a nonprofit organization specializing in training and mentoring Black male youth in technology creation, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills, is expanding to Baltimore.
To mark its official groundbreaking in Baltimore, The Hidden Genius Project partnered with TEAM Inc. to host a Tech Slam event at Coppin State University on April 12, 2024.
In essence, Tech Slams are one-day sports and technology exposure events held by The Hidden Genius Project that aim to encourage youth of color, in particular, to explore sports technology opportunities while building upon the strengths they already possess.
The Baltimore Tech Slam was a five-hour affair that attracted an estimated 100 Black males, most of whom attend Baltimore City Public Schools, who were rising freshmen to juniors.
Over the course of the Tech Slam, youth learned about intriguing career pathways at the intersection of technology and sports as the event endeavored to demystify, expose and inspire young people to skills and networks that can guide them to exciting S.T.E.A.M. career opportunities.
In addition to hands-on workshops, informative breakout sessions and interactive activities at the Baltimore Tech Slam, high school participants also:
- Experimented with technology while practicing coding and programming skills.
- Broke down sports footage using industry-leading, cutting-edge analytics software.
- Learned about the various opportunity pathways that can lead to participation in the tech sector.
Cydni Stewart, The Hidden Genius Project’s Baltimore site director, is elated about stepping into her new role. She works closely with Moriah Smalls, the Baltimore support services manager, and will oversee general operations and functions of the organization locally.
“Baltimore was hand-chosen [as the newest Hidden Genius Project site] and I do believe that this is a great location for just realizing how much Black male youth is here and how much tech [opportunities] are not,” Stewart said.
Toward the end of the Tech Slam, Stewart joined colleagues in announcing The Hidden Genius Project’s award-winning Intensive Immersion Program. Up until April 26, the organization is accepting applications for rising ninth, 10th and 11th graders to its inaugural Baltimore cohort.
The free, 15-month, cohort-based training program for Black boys and young men in Baltimore will supply upwards of 800 hours of holistic, trauma/healing-informed, high-touch mentorship and intensive training that aims to develop youth into responsible leaders equipped with coding and entrepreneurial skills who can identify and develop tech-enabled solutions to address society’s most compelling challenges.
“At Tech Slam, these boys were immersed,” she added, reflecting on the robot-coding and spherical ball-coding activities.
“It’s a moment of curiosity. It’s a moment of spark. And it’s a space where they’re in a community with people who look just like them, raised just like them, in schools they come from in the same areas they are in. They’re able to connect, so it’s a moment of connectivity, it’s a moment of learning.”
Following student arrival and introductions from The Hidden Genius Project members and TEAM (Technology Exposure and Access through Mentoring), breakout sessions were held for the next two-and-a-half hours.
Expo partners, including Chick-Fil-a, Comcast and Baltimore-based For My Kidz Inc., were also on site to educate students about career opportunities in various industries. The afternoon concluded with prize giveaways and a community partner question-and-answer session.
“I found there were a lot of opportunities that I could do something here, so I felt that I should come here and at least try,” said Cyrus Henry, a sophomore at Bluford Drew Jemison STEM Academy.
“I feel this is important because some people might get down or think they don’t have a chance when these things could really boost your self-esteem and make you feel like you could do it.”
Executives, staff members and youth educators from The Hidden Genius Project traveled from all over the U.S. to support the Baltimore Tech Slam.
Neranti Gary was one of several Hidden Genius Project youth educators at the Tech Slam. He is an Oakland Cohort 6 alum of The Hidden Genius Project, and is a sophomore computer science major at Howard University.
Youth educators provide guidance for cohort students in various areas, whether it’s demonstrating how to code a robot, creating lesson plans or teaching a web design course.
“The biggest thing at the start of the program was to help Black male youth get through high school [and it’s progressed to preparing youth for careers beyond college]. I think it’s really important because we don’t have the resources and we’re under-respresented,” said Gary, whose career trajectory is in the field of artificial intelligence.
“I think it’s super important for us to even have these opportunities.”
Baltimore is The Hidden Genius Project’s seventh and newest project. The group operates sites in Oakland, Richmond (California), Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta.
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