Volunteerism – How Neustar & Electronic Arts (EA) Inspire STEAM Career Exploration
Volunteerism – How Neustar & Electronic Arts (EA) Inspire STEAM Career Exploration
Last week we celebrated National Volunteer Week (April 15-21), an annual celebration observed across the globe to promote and show appreciation for volunteerism. Volunteer week is also an opportunity to celebrate the impact that volunteers make in building stronger, more resilient communities.
In the past two weeks I’ve traveled across the country to help our partners celebrate their digital STEAM education programs and honor the students who participated in these programs. I’ve seen volunteers construct smart parking lots of out legos to showcase the importance of cybersecurity. I’ve listened to employee volunteers share stories with students on how they can make a difference as tomorrow’s leaders. These student celebrations exemplify incredible volunteerism and inspire students to learn about new career paths and connect their interests to jobs of the 21st century.
To shine a light on the people to make a difference in their communities, we interviewed employee volunteers from Electronic Arts (EA) and Neustar to find out why they were interested in volunteering and why they think it’s important to give back to communities their partnerships serve.
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Tatyana Dyshlova
Producer, DICE Los Angeles
Electronic Arts (EA)
Q: Why were you interested in volunteering at the event today?
A: Showing students the workplace in person makes STEAM careers feel a lot more concrete. They can come see us doing day-to-day work. They can see that it’s something you can legitimately do. Having something real and tangible shows that yes, you can do this. This is a legitimate career option.
Q: Why do you think it’s so important for EA to give back to the community?
A: I love that EA is participating in the community and trying to open up these careers to more and more people. STEAM jobs
are communicated as not serious, or not real careers. It’s important to change that conception so that we do get a lot of talent. It’s a real career, it’s a
lot of fun, and I would love for other people to have the same opportunity I did.
Q: What did you hope to take away from this event?
A: I want to give back and open those doors for the next generation and hold out the hand and hope they will come on board.
Q: Finish the sentence STEAM is….
A: STEAM is right brain and left brain having an awesome frolic in the adventure of life.
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Yosha Ulrich-Sturmat
SVP, Corporate Planning/Operations & Communications
Neustar
Q: Why were you interested in volunteering at the event today?
A: I enjoy engaging the next generation workforce and sharing a glimpse of career possibilities in STEM and STEM related fields.
Q: Why do you think it’s so important for Neustar to give back to the community?
A: Not only is it important for a company to do well, but also to do good in the communities in which we live and work. Meeting face to face with students after they complete the online courseadds another dimension and opportunity to explore what they learned and why they should care about STEM.
Q: What did you hope to take away from this event today?
A: I hope to connect online learning to real life possibilities.
Q: Finish the sentence STEM is….
A: STEM is the fuel that will drive the connected world forward.
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