As the Community Relations site lead for the San Francisco Symantec office, I help plan and organize the employee volunteering initiatives for the teams at this location. In December of last year, we had the opportunity to plan and host of very special evening at the office – Mission Bit’s Fall Demo Day! Mission Bit is a local nonprofit that strives to eliminate the tech divide for youth living in urban poverty and rural areas across the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization provides computer programming courses to public school students that focus on project based learning to teach both core concepts and practical skills. These courses are free to the high school students. At the end of each semester, students showcase their ideas to an audience and panel of judges. This last quarter’s Demo Day was hosted here at the San Francisco office!
Across Mission Bit’s five courses, they had 15 student groups that created web sites, mobile apps and games that they had designed during their 13 week coding course. It was an amazing event with over 200 people in attendance! The projects were scored by a panel of seven judges that compromised of software engineers, tech entrepreneurs, community leaders and educators – two of which were Symantec employees. Judges scored the projects based on a number of factors and cash prizes went to the top three groups.
Demo day was an excellent opportunity to get to know the organization and all that they do for the community. In the spirit of this quarter’s theme of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), we’ve decided to continue working with Mission Bit and will be organizing and hosting another STEM event this quarter. Mission Bit will receive a $5,000 grant from Symantec and on top of that, with Symantec’s Dollars for Doer’s program, for each employee that volunteers their time Symantec donates an additional $15 per hour per volunteer!
It is very beneficial for students to hear professional’s stories of how they entered into the technology sector as a career. Each person has had a different path of how they got into the field, and sharing those stories help young people visualize the many opportunities in tech. We at Symantec have the opportunity to create impact. Not only by sharing our stories, but also by sharing our knowledge. It is very easy for us and it is so important for young people to have a mentor. Mentorship is just as important as monetary donations, if not more. And I find that volunteering is just as beneficial to the employee. Every time an employee volunteers, they always come out feeling more energized.
It is so important for me that we at the San Francisco office meet each quarter’s volunteer initiative for multiple reasons – the grant money that goes to the organization, the positive contribution to the community, and the beneficial impact for the individuals that participate, both student and employee. I always say to the employees: this is a great way to give back to the local community, it is just a few hours of your time, it will be fun, and you always get something out of it. One thing I hear a lot from employees is the fine-tuning of their own skills. For example, public speaking – when you have a classroom of students shooting rapid fire questions at you, it keeps you on your toes! But it is a wonderful skill to perfect, because we have to do that every day with our customers, express ourselves clearly and eloquently. I always encourage everyone to get involved in whatever capacity they are able. Volunteers always walk away feeling a little lighter, a little braver, and that much happier that they gave a bit of their time to their community!
To learn more, contact community_relations@symantec.com.
I've never even thought I code before Mission Bit. My instructor made such a huge impact on me and I look forward to learning more next semester." - Taya Fonsworth 12th Grade Gateway High School
Tina De Carolis is an Administrative Specialist and Symantec’s San Francisco Community Relations Site Lead