Technically Not Tech: Tech training and another chance at YouthBuild Philadelphia
YouthBuild Philadelphia Leads a green build at the National Mall in D.C. on March 17, 2009. YouthBuild also has technology courses.
She wasn’t going to pass.
Testing for an ICDL, a license noting she had mastered general computer functions, is the goal of the six-week technology class at the YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, but sometimes there are too many challenges for some students to get there.
This young woman tried, but it sure seemed like she’d be one of the students who miss the mark. Female high school dropouts aren’t often thought as players in technology fields.
But then, she passed. And now, one year later, she’s at the Community College of Philadelphia, reaching even further.
Stephanie Virgo, a YouthBuild technology instructor who had those concerns about that student she liked, now sees that triumph as something of a lesson on how technology can challenge and motivate.
“We have students who have never used a computer before,” Virgo says. “It can be very empowering and help them pursue that post-secondary education. If you’re given a paper to write, that can be hard. If you’re given that paper and you don’t know how to use a computer, it’s a whole ‘nother challenge.”
