NEW HANOVER COUNTY — An after-school youth camp connecting eSports with STEM is expanding into Wilmington.
Carolina Fintech Hub’s Youth Technology Apprenticeship Camp, launched exclusively in Charlotte over the summer, introduced 20 high schoolers to career paths in technology by capturing their interest through video games.
“This is where the kids are today. Let’s meet them where they are,” Carolina Fintech Hub Executive Director Tariq Bokhari said.
Related: New NHCS program aims to pique student interest in emergency response careers
Noting the success, Wilmington-based companies Live Oak Bank and nCino are partnering to bring the program to New Hanover County. Carolina Fintech Hub is in the final stages of picking the members of its second cohort, which will include around 100 students from Wilmington, Charlotte and Philadelphia.
The program aims to enroll a diverse class, largely made up of young people who may not have been considering higher education. The first cohort in Charlotte consisted of 80% people of color and 30% female, all of whom graduated and received the North Carolina Registered Pre-Apprenticeship Certification through ApprenticeshipNC.
The idea for the youth camp was inspired by the Workforce Investment Network, another one of Carolina Fintech Hub’s programs. Through WIN, low-income adults are offered bank and tech jobs while they undergo technology training for 24 weeks. Upon graduation from the program, members are placed into full-time positions with $55,000 starting salaries.
“We were like, this is working so well that we want to spin back into the youth pipelining area,” Bokhari said. “We can get to them younger and be able to give them these opportunities, particularly people in need of upward mobility, may not be going to college, may be in Title I schools, things like that.”
Cohort 2 is scheduled to kick off virtually Nov. 30, with most of the sessions held via Zoom. Carolina Fintech Hub will be working with participants several hours each school day for roughly three weeks.
Several hundred people have already applied and Carolina FinTech Hub will announce by mid-week who is accepted.
The curriculum intertwines eSports and game development, bridging the connection between gaming and STEM. Participants will attend coding classes, hear from speakers and engage in different entrepreneur exercises. They’ll break into groups with esports coaches for training on games such as Rocket League and Call of Duty. Using the Unreal Engine, a platform from Epic Games, students can build their own game.
At the end of each week, the students will compete for cash prizes against their own schools, as well as other teens in Charlotte and Philly. The tournaments will be streamed live via Twitch.
Send tips and comments to Alexandria Sands at [email protected]
