Celebrating 30 Years of Transforming STEM Education
Co-founders Trish Millines Dziko and Jill Hull Dziko pose in front of a timeline showcasing TAF’s major milestones since the organizations founding in 1996.
Walking into the room, you could feel it. Thirty years of work, thirty years of students, educators, and partners, all gathered in one place. TAF’s 30th Anniversary was a reminder of what happens when a community decides that every young person deserves access to education that empowers them to explore their own learning and build a future that is theirs.
As guests arrived at Block 41, they were greeted by TAF staff excited to see many longtime supporters, alumni, and educators of the TAF community. The atmosphere was equal parts reunion and rallying cry. Alumni swapped stories with their old teachers, and met the partners and staff who helped guide them through the decisions that made them who they are today as music from Black Stax and DJ Amber Love set the tone of the evening.
The guest list was a map representing everything TAF has built: alumni across TAF’s afterschool programs of TTIP, and Tech Start, summer internships and TAF Academy – all who provided lessons and connections that evolved TAF into what it is today – an organization partnered across six public schools in the Federal Way, Tacoma, and Yakima school districts. Among them was Microsoft, a partner whose support has helped sustain this work for decades and takes pride in its longstanding partnership.
When TAF began, the work was focused and hands-on. Three programs anchored it:
- TechStart brought technology into elementary schools, introducing young learners to tools and ideas early.
- TTIP gave high schoolers a real way into tech, with experiences that made the field feel reachable.
- TAF Academy offered a project-based, student-centered STEM curriculum for grades 6 through 12, showing what school could look like when students drive their own learning.
Those programs planted seeds. Today, the work has grown into something much broader. TAF now partners across every level of education:
- In the classroom: STEMbyTAF curriculum puts proven, student-centered learning directly into teachers’ hands.
- In the educator pipeline: The Martinez Fellowship and the Network for EdWork support prospective teachers of color on the path from college to the classroom, so the next generation of educators is prepared and supported.
- In district leadership: Education EnCounter and Ally Engagement bring leaders into the conversation, because lasting change needs champions at the top as well as in the classroom.
A single thread runs through each interation of TAF’s programs: imagination and problem-solving, done together. Whether the learner is a third grader, a college student, or a district superintendent, TAF’s approach is the same. Give people room to imagine, challenge them to solve real problems in the context of equity, change, and community support, and show them how to do it together as a team.
So, why has Microsoft stood alongside TAF all this time? Jolenta Coleman-Bush, Microsoft representative states it best, “TAF provides students with exceptional educational opportunities, the ability to have hands-on learning, and then connecting them with real world experience that’s important for all of us to invest in.” The answer connects directly to Microsoft’s mission. A strong, diverse tech future depends on a strong, diverse pipeline of talent, and that pipeline starts long before a first job.
The next five to ten years are about going further. At the center is the Trajectory for Transformation campaign, TAF is aiming to transform education by partnering with ten more public schools – and to fund student-based learning across the entire public school system. It’s an ambitious plan, built on what thirty years have taught TAF about what works.
A Trajectory for Transformation
