Interesado/a en Carreras Corporativas

This May, Ally hosted their youngest group ever for a Tech Enrichment Experience at the Ally Detroit Center. A dozen fifth graders from Herrington Elementary School in Pontiac toured the headquarters, learned about Ally careers and built their STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills while fueling their curiosity.

“Everyone hasn’t been downtown, so it’s a really great experience,” said Nicole Sikes, fifth-grade teacher at Herrington. “It’s so valuable to share opportunities like this; the kids know that they can work at a bank and design video games.”

Kadaria was one of the students experiencing Detroit for the first time. Stepping out of the elevator, she was shocked by Ally’s lobby alone. Soon she’d see all their amenities including a large gym, golf stimulator and ping pong room.

“Ooh purple, I like purple,” said Kadaria. “I feel like I’m the president — just imagine if my house looked like this.”

By the end of the interactive day, Kadaria was planning her future career at Ally. Luckily, her tour guide happened to be one of Ally’s Human Resource teammates.

“What do you do at Ally?” Kadari asked.

“I work in HR,” said Lolita. “I get to hire people among other things.”

“Will you hire me?” Kadaria asked; interest peaked.

“Of course!” Lolita said, without skipping a beat. “You’ve got to keep working hard at school and someday you can work at a place like this.”

In essence, this is what Ally’s Tech Enrichment Experience is about: an interactive workplace learning experience sparking interest in careers that students have never encountered before.

“The generous response and encouraging words from Lolita were incredible; she truly wanted the students to see all of the cool things Ally had to offer,” said Dayna Browning, director of Community Schools at United Way for Southeastern Michigan. “It was especially meaningful to witness Kadaria enthralled with a day in the life at Ally.”

Students left inspired to think about their future in new ways. Ally’s Tech Enrichment Experience is the second Learning Journey made possible by Tecnología unida, a group of CIOs and IT professionals dedicated to bridging the digital divide and increasing STEM opportunities for students.

“One of the things that we want you to understand is how the schoolwork that you’re doing today translates into the work that we do,” said Pat Rinaldo, Tech United advisory board member and executive director and CIO of Consumer Bank and Corporate Finance at Ally. “I’m in technology, so I get to play with computers all day to build software for the bank and that means I use the skills that you’re all learning today at my job.”

ROBLOX ROCKET SCIENTISTS

For three months, a volunteer group of Ally’s software engineers learned new skills to build their Space Race game on Roblox. Last year, the video game launched at United Way’s STEMPossible as an interactive station to teach students money saving strategies.

The game requires students to buy parts, assemble a rocket and launch it to see how far it goes. Students earn monetary rewards based on launch distance and then save up to afford the expensive “legendary” parts.

“I want the banana head, but I have to save up to buy it,” said Persia, an 11-year-old student. “You’ve just got to work on it.”

Courage, a highly motivated student, gave the game two thumbs up. Courage was determined to ride the rocket, even though the game wasn’t made with that feature.

“I just bought a chicken head, but I’m trying to get to the secrets,” said Courage. “I’m gonna ride that rocket.”

When Courage managed to hop on a tail piece during take-off, the room erupted in cheers for her. Even Ally technologists gathered in excitement as Courage landed on the moon’s surface and found an “easter egg” hidden by the software engineers: a Ford Explorer.

Driving around on the rocky terrain, Courage showcased the rewards of her perseverance.

“My favorite part of the day was flying on the spaceship and getting flinged to the car,” said Courage.

FULFILLING NEEDS AND WANTS

Ally’s Leadership Development Program Manager Earline Crawford taught students the difference between needs and wants as she facilitated one of Ally’s Fintropolis financial education lessons. After explaining financial values and goals, Earline helped students create plans for short and long-term success.

“Who likes money?” asked Earline and almost every student raised their hands. “Money is a tool; you learn how to use it so you can be more successful with it.”

Students were asked to stand for needs and sit for wants with examples like shoes, Netflix, pizza, Wi-fi and medicine. Students were encouraged to think critically to justify and challenge their original assumptions.

Today, access to emerging technology is necessary for success, and this fifth-grade class’s STEM opportunities were not limited to their Ally experience.

United Way’s Youth Opportunity team was proud to support Nicole’s classroom with a grant for supplies earlier this year. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) Classroom Materials Grants allow teachers to order the tools they need and want to deliver hands-on STEAM experiences in their classrooms.

“This is my first in-person opportunity with Ally and United Way, but we did get the STEAM Grant from United Way earlier this year and that’s been great,” said Nicole. “It helped so much; we got spinners for math games, a globe, big chart paper and an easel— the old one would fall over whenever a kid walked by.

“We also bought supplies for the science fair like glue, volcano kits and liquid rainbows.”

Inspired to get involved? Learn more about Tecnología unida by contacting TechUnited@UnitedWaySEM.org, or donate today!