Supporting STEM Learning Through Immersive Experience

Oct. 24, 2023 - UScellular is focused on addressing gaps in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education. By connecting tomorrow’s innovators with the resources they need today, we’re helping to shape their future opportunities. Since 2022, UScellular has partnered with the nonprofit, Girls Who Code, to help close the STEM gender gap by providing equal opportunities for girls, women and nonbinary students in STEM fields.

In 2023, UScellular’s support of the organization and its participants included funding a unique two-week experience through UScellular’s virtual classroom during Girls Who Code’s Summer Immersion Program. Throughout the summer, each participant learned how to design their own video game, including UX design basics and introduction to JavaScript, with the goal of creating their own fully-designed video game by the end of the session.

Throughout the two-week session, 55 young women joined UScellular associates to:

• Learn the steps to secure an internship from UScellular’s interns.
• Hear about her non-traditional career path from a UScellular senior engineer.
• Communicate their story to promote their final video games from UScellular’s media relations and social media teams.
• Receive tips and guidance from UScellular associates early in their career journeys, such as understanding what they don’t like is just as important as what they do like.

UScellular interns from across the company also joined the program to share their insights on what they learned and offered some thoughts on what it’s like to work for a large company. The students shared that the interns’ “advice resonated more with me” and “it was cool to hear from a college student’s perspective since college is so close by.”

Overall, students were positively impacted through their participation in one of the 2023 Girls Who Code Summer Immersion Program experiences. Participants in the 2023 Summer Immersion Program shared:

• 73% of said they are more interested in pursuing a tech career.
• 85% became more aware of computer science career pathways.
• 89% shared that they want to intern or work for their partner company.

To find more ways that UScellular supports closing the STEM education gap with Girls Who Code, go to UScellular’s Girls Who Code Social Impact web page and STEM Social Impact webpage.