TAF partners with Comcast to provide students real-world experiences

Comcast NBCUniversal and Technology Access Foundation (TAF) today announced their strategic partnership to support students of color with real-world experiences within STEM industries. Through the Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Challenge, teams of high school students from TAF’s school TAF Academy located in Federal Way, WA will participate in a year-long program during the 2016-2017 school year where they’ll have the opportunity to address and build solutions to specific Comcast identified challenges.

“Comcast is thrilled to launch, in partnership with Technology Access Foundation, the Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Challenge.” says Diem Ly, Comcast’s External Affairs and Community Investment Manager. “Our engineers will serve as mentors to students in this real-world project – learning and innovating solutions together in the classroom. We hope to expand the opportunities for all students while demonstrating to them we care about their future.”

TAF Academy is a 6th-12th grade project-based, STEM focused, public neighborhood school co-managed by Federal Way Public Schools and TA. It is centered on students’ mastery of concepts deriving from science, technology, engineering and math. Its academic philosophy is around equity, project based learning, STEM integration, education technology and college readiness. Students participate in 4 public exhibitions a year.

The Comcast NBCUniversal Challenge, to be facilitated and implemented by TAF, will involve Comcast engineering and business leaders presenting one real-world Comcast challenge for 16 high school students to “hack” with mentors throughout the year. Finalists of the challenge will present their innovation solutions in Spring 2017 through live stream, and social media as well as attendees will be able to cast their vote to select the ultimate winning team whose members will receive $1,000 each in college scholarships.

“We are very excited about adding Comcast to our growing number of corporate partners giving our students practical experience while fostering their entrepreneurial spirit,” said TAF Co-Founder and Executive Director Trish Millines Dziko. “Our students will have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of what happens behind the scenes at Comcast and contribute to solving some of their challenges.”