Academy for Technologists Extraordinaire

The Academy for Technologists Extraordinaire, Inc. (aka BYOC Camps and Clubs) offers bold, ground-breaking, and transformative programming that seeks to advance racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development. The tale of Cincinnati, OH, is truly that of a tale of two cities: the first, the Queen City, a center of arts and commerce that has been an historic hub to new settlers in the ever-emerging West; the second, however, is Black Cincinnati, an historical minefield of state and local policies that routinely relocates, under-serves, and excludes minority and low-income communities. BYOC Camps and Clubs has established relationships and sponsorships opportunities within the public and private sectors with the ability to create sustainable project leadership, ensure positive outcomes for the individuals and communities engaged, and provide public programming that removes all systemic barriers to opportunities and benefits associated with STEM education, research, and workforce development. Racial disparities in employment, earnings, housing, safety, and inclusion hold back masses of African-Americans, and BYOC Camps and Clubs' programming is focused on developing extraordinary minority youth for STEM careers. It's program offers an innovative opportunity to substantively bridge numerous gaps between community development, socio-economic advancement, and racial equity in STEM education and engagement. BYOC Camps and Clubs’ ongoing project is advancing community-based approaches to instructing, designing, and developing STEM-based educational engagement opportunities in an environment for the public.

The goals of this program are:
-Provide innovative STEM development services and opportunities to local elementary, middle and high-school participants including tuition-free STEM camps for low-income students.
-College readiness for high-school youth interested in technology disciplines through programs and experiences in technology.
-Create paid internship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students from Ohio colleges/universities in technology disciplines.
-Implement annually a Youth Tech Summit and other real world experiences to engage local youth and their parents in impactful engagement with technology professionals, colleges and universities to understand technology career opportunities and pathways into technology careers.

- Offer year round STEM programs teaching youth ages 9 - 17 computer and engineering technologies. Cover a wide range of technologies including computer hardware, computer software, multimedia, robotics and electronics.

- Provide real world experiences for youth through trips to Silicon Valley and other places to see and understand major technology companies up close. Offer an annual technology conference for youth, parents, corporations and colleges/universities.

- Provide internships to youth in colleges/universities pursuing technology careers.

Our staff of 4 people with interns allow us to provide the programs and experiences year round.

BYOC concluded a triumphant year of growth and learning in 2023 with many achievements and milestones. BYOC proudly reflects on a transformative journey that empowered 250 young minds and parents. BYOC fostered a passion for technology through immersive summer, fall, and winter classes, held a groundbreaking Youth Tech Summit, had an enriching trip to Silicon Valley, and made an important commitment to getting youth to the BYOC facility through transportation services. For the 2nd year transportation services were provided across Greater Cincinnati, ensuring that youth from diverse neighborhoods had the opportunity to attend classes at BYOC's facility. This initiative aimed to break down barriers to access and make tech education available to all.

BYOC's commitment to making tech education accessible was highlighted by an exceptional fundraising effort throughout the year. Reaching new goals, the community's support demonstrated a shared commitment to fostering innovation and inspiring the next generation of tech leaders. This enabled BYOC to award over 40 scholarships.

BYOC touched youth from 27 communities across Greater Cincinnati (more than in any one year) including:
Madisonville, Forest Park, Deer Park, Oakley, Mt Healthy, Fairfield, Springdale, West Chester, Price Hill, College Hill, Finneytown, Loveland, Avondale, Mt Auburn, Sycamore Township, Wyoming, Liberty Township, Sharonville, 7 Hills, Montgomery, Springfield Township, Woodlawn, Bond Hill, Winton Terrace, Colerain, Hartwell and Anderson.

BYOC’s 4th trip to Silicon Valley included 6 youth and 5 adults. We visited more companies on this trip than in the past including: Hewlett-Packard, Nvidia, Google, YouTube, Cohesity, Big Foot Biomedical, Microsoft and Lyft. These trips have been life changing for several youth and have been inspirational to participating youth and parents.