Tech Alpharetta Concludes Women's Forum's STEAM Mentoring Program for 2022-2023 School Year

Tech Alpharetta, the nonprofit organization helping the City of Alpharetta lead in tech innovation, announces the successful conclusion of its Women's Forum's STEAM Mentoring program for the 2022-2023 school year.

The Tech Alpharetta Women's Forum's STEAM (science, technology, engineering, math, and the digital arts) Mentoring program paired 10 accomplished female technology executives with 10 female high school students for regular, monthly mentoring sessions at Fulton County Schools' Innovation Academy High School in Alpharetta. The program was designed by Tech Alpharetta Women's Forum co-chairs, Sunita Arora, COO of Alpharetta-based Medicus IT, and David Fisher, Executive Director for Morgan Stanley and a member of Tech Alpharetta's Board of Directors, with the help of the Women's Forum's Advisory Board.

"The goal of our program is to help to eliminate the gender gap in STEAM careers. By working with mentors, students gain a broader view of the opportunities and diversity of jobs to choose from, as they consider their future path," noted Arora. "The students and the mentors alike were thrilled with the program. Our mentors acted as positive, trusted role models for the young women, providing feedback on LinkedIn profiles, resumes, college STEAM majors, and careers."

Tech Alpharetta's Women's Forum's STEAM Mentoring program was piloted in the spring of 2022 at Innovation Academy High School under the supervision of Pam Whitlock, chair of IT for the high school. The initiative was such a success that the Tech Alpharetta Women's Forum expanded the program's size and officially launched it at the school in August 2022. Program mentors for the 2022-2023 school year included executives from AWS, Fiserv, Jackson Healthcare, Morgan Stanley, Scientific Games, Surgical Information Systems, Teledyne, Verint, and Verizon.

"We are excited to announce that we will be more than doubling the size of our STEAM Mentoring Program at Innovation Academy this coming fall, expanding to 25 female students and 25 STEAM mentors," shared Fisher. "We plan to continue to grow the program year-over-year, and we hope to subsequently expand it to other area high schools."

Looking to the 2023-2024 school year, the Women's Forum's STEAM mentoring program is excited to launch its app this fall. Built by Morgan Stanley, the app is designed to streamline administration of the growing program. While all mentor slots for Fall 2023 are filled, future mentors interested in volunteering can join the Women's Forum's STEAM Mentoring waitlist by contacting Program Manager, Vik Jain, at [email protected].

About Tech Alpharetta

Tech Alpharetta (previously the Alpharetta Technology Commission), the first organization of its kind in Georgia, was established in 2012 by the City of Alpharetta and is an independent, 501(c)(6) nonprofit organization today. The organization, whose mission is to help grow technology and innovation in Alpharetta, includes a strategic advisory board of Alpharetta's leading technology companies, technology thought leadership events for area tech executives, the Tech Alpharetta Women's Forum, and the Tech Alpharetta Innovation Center, a flourishing tech startup incubator that is home to dozens of tech startups. Learn more at https://www.techalpharetta.com.