It is the largest tech expo hosted by a school district in Washington State. And it just got bigger.
An unprecedented number of people, 8,700, recently attended the annual Kent School District Tech Expo at the ShoWare Center in downtown Kent – the largest gathering to date since the expo’s inception 9 years ago.
The Tech Expo showcases how students gain college and career skills through classroom projects using technology tools. Attendees included families, educators and community stakeholders who enjoyed interactive technology demonstrations by teachers and students. In one demo, student teams competed in a robotics match; in another booth, students presented video games they developed themselves.
Local businesses and organizations also highlighted their support for the use of technology in education. Comcast, a sponsor of the expo for the last three years, believes in addressing and bridging the digital divide that exists for disadvantaged communities, their families, and especially children. They can suffer the most long-term from a lack of access to technology, its application in education, career preparedness, and much more.
To help students visualize a career in technology and empower their futures, Comcast in partnership with the company, DigiPhotoBooth, set up a red carpet-style digital photo booth, with technology career costumes they can wear and take a print photo home as a keepsake.
“It’s important for students, as young as possible, to visualize they can be somebody some day—a scientist, an engineer—anything they want,” said Diem Ly, External Affairs Manager for Comcast-WA. “That visual is empowering. It can turn into a goal that becomes reality. In this case, we did it in a fun way for the whole family to participate.”
“It is wonderful the way Comcast partnered with the Kent School District by hosting the STEM career photo booth,” said Stanley Morency, Executive Director of Information Technology for the Kent School District. “Enabling students and parents to visualize themselves in potential career paths is a great way to spark their imagination around what is possible. Many parents go away with recognition of options they had not thought were possible.
