Cody High School in Detroit had a graduation rate of around 20%. It was selected with a few other schools in Detroit to be good targets for a “turnaround”. Cody has since been split up into 4 different schools based on area of interest: Medicine and Health, Public Leadership, Critical Thinking, and Technology.
“The Small Schools at Cody are supported by the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund, which was created by United Way for Southeastern Michigan. United Way is a leader in high school turnaround, and provides funding, advocacy, and other supports in five metro Detroit turnaround high schools.” ~United Way
DE is helping out at Cody this year by volunteering time and resources for an afterschool technology lesson each week. Deb (Customer Experience Manager) and I (Sales and Marketing… Superhero?) met with some students a week ago to gauge interest and find out what types of things they’d like to learn about. Six kids were at that initial meeting. We put up some fliers and told them to spread the word.
Yesterday, we had our first official Technology Team Meeting. We were hoping to get 10 students to show up. We were blown away when 18 students filled the Cody computer lab. (Must have been the fliers!)
Conroy (DE Consultant) enthralled the massive crowd (including me and Deb) as he disassembled both an Xbox and a PC in a flash. He then explained the inner workings of each machine, compared the similar parts, and engaged in an intense Q & A session.
Next, Conroy stunned the students as he set his tools on the table, sat down in his chair, and said “Now, YOU put it back together”. They did. Quickly. (and it still worked when I got home that night)
Great turnout, great experience, can’t wait for Tech Team Meeting #2; Building a Computer. Unfortunately, the next two weeks are no-go’s for testing and mid-winter break, but we will be back at it March 9th. I’ll keep you posted.
– Bryan E.
