New Vision Foundation in partnership with Youthprise and Repowered (formerly known as Tech Dump) launched the first ever Youth for Tech Training Pilot (YTTP) four months ago. The pilot course has now completed its first run. The course modules included computer science topics such as coding, hardware, security, and digital literacy. The YTTP program was created to prepare young adults for high-demand careers in the tech industry. The students in the program attend High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) in St. Paul, MN. I met with the instructor of the course, Yasin Jama to inquire about his experience instructing the YTTP course.

Meet Yasin Jama

Yasin joined New Vision Foundation this past year as one of the newest instructors. As an instructor he led the Youth for Tech Training Pilot which just reached its completion. Yasin also currently teaches a coding course throughout the school year to students at Lincoln International High School in Minneapolis.

I asked Yasin what his favorite thing about teaching is and he responds, “It’s great to see how excited students become when learning about technology and the numerous discussions we have in class in understanding the importance of technology and its utilization in our daily lives. My students are intrigued with creating codes and using them to build programs and challenging themselves to solve errors as they go.  I like when they ask questions because this means they’re engaged and wanting to understand the concepts better, this is very encouraging. All the students in my YTTP course have had to physically come to our classroom at NVF compared to other courses I’ve taught which are usually within the school the students attend. My YTTP students need to travel here, so this to me shows dedication.”

Yasin states that when he was a student, he didn’t have these kinds of opportunities students have now. “To have a free tech courses locally available to students from a low socioeconomic status 15-20 years ago was very rare. Therefore, me not having had the same resources available in my youth motivates me to partake in providing this kind of resource for youth today. When I started my Computer Science degree, I didn’t know much about technology, so I had to learn everything as I went, but if an opportunity like this were available during my grade school years it would’ve changed the game.”

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