Twenty-five Dallas ISD NAF academy students visited Capital One on June 20 for a campus tour highlighting seven visual “STEAM stops” to explore how their everyday environment connects to science, technology, engineering, arts and math concepts. The students put their skills to the test in a few exercises such as determining the surface area of Capital One’s treehouse and using augmented reality to determine how ball size and surface affects the speed of a ball rolling on a mini golf course.
“When students visit our campus, we want them to see firsthand how STEAM impacts everything around them,” said Monica Shortino, Director, Social Innovation at Capital One. “We hope this real-world experience sparks their interest in pursuing a STEAM-related career in the future.”
The seven-stop tour was created in partnership with talkSTEM and Groove Jones, local organizations that create high quality and fun learning experiences. TalkSTEM content is designed to be interesting to all students, but they emphasize learning for the underserved to empower all children to participate in STEAM.
“We hope the students see this program as a fun learning experience and will open their eyes to the possibilities of using cool technology,” said Neil Foote, consultant for talkSTEM. “With this program, students can apply what they’ve learned virtually anywhere – at school, home and in their futures.”
“Our mobile app utilizes different technology like image recognition, machine learning and augmented reality to bring STEAM to life,” said Dan Ferguson, EVP digital interactive and partner at Groove Jones. “It’s a new way for students to discover how to apply STEAM practices in their everyday lives.”
Capital One has partnered with NAF since 2017 to offer NAF Future Ready Labs – a high-quality paid internship experience for high school students in an innovative and comprehensive structure. Interns have the opportunity to be part of a professional team, where they solve real business problems and are mentored by Capital One associates. Through the program, students broaden their horizons as they venture outside the classroom for an unforgettable learning experience.
“Everything in the world is moving at such a fast pace with technology,” said Michelle Charles, a recent NAF academy graduate of Sunset High School. “This internship is teaching me new skills like coding and virtual reality, which is important, because no matter what field you are in, you will always be surrounded by technology.”
Capital One engages with community partners across the region to make its Future Edge commitment come to life. Future Edge is an initiative aimed to help more Americans get the skills, tools and resources they need to succeed in the 21st century. As part of this initiative, Future Edge DFW symbolizes Capital One’s commitment to make Dallas-Fort Worth a destination for top talent, spur growth as a world-renowned technology hub and nurture the leaders of tomorrow.
“Every day I’m learning something new and getting the chance to see opportunities that are out there,” said Cassandra Rodriguez, an incoming NAF academy senior at Woodrow Wilson High School. “This internship helped me figure out I want to do business and I’m really grateful for that.”
