Code2College
Code2College is the preeminent national organization providing free, after-school coding education, professional development and mentorship to thousands of historically underestimated high school students towards placement into paid, technical summer internships, as well as college and career excellence.
Short of family or friends occupying a STEM role or attending a well-resourced school, students often lack equitable access and opportunities within STEM. These inequities are amplified for high school students who identify as Black, Latino and girls. Code2College has developed a scalable, sustainable program model that has positively impacted over 3,000 high school students nationally in just six years. Our vision is to build a national network of homegrown, technical talent where companies contribute talent and resources to historically underestimated high school students toward building up a diverse, local technical talent network.
The Code2College program model is composed of three pillars that address the factors that lead to STEM attrition - education, exposure, and experience: (1) Education - after-school coding education twice-weekly over ten weeks in small, virtual classes where students develop several technical projects with support from their instructors and our staff; (2) Exposure - students create professional assets like resumes, as well as refine interview skills during monthly workshops. Students also participate in monthly STEM case competitions to build their fluency and familiarity with STEM industries like Cybersecurity and Private Equity; and (3) Experience - eligible students are invited to interview with partners like Atlassian, Indeed and American Express for paid, technical high school summer internships.
All students, irrespective of internship placement, gain access to a tremendous professional network and exposure to lucrative, technical companies and industries, as well as build marketable technical portfolios. Over 85% of Code2College program alumni matriculate to a college degree, more than half of have participated in paid, summer high school internships and the overall earnings of our Code2College high school interns are 2 - 3x higher each Summer than their high school peers.
Leaders & Partners
Impact
I participated in Code2College for several years after moving to the US from Venezuela learning how to code and building professional skills in workshops. During my Junior year, I was introduced to Indeed as a Code2College internship host partner and after a rigorous technical interview process secured a paid, Software Engineering internship before my senior year of high school.
Current Metrics
Since 2016, Code2College high school interns have collectively earned over $4.5M
96% of Code2College graduating high school seniors from the class of 2024 matriculated to a 4-year university degree (with more than 80% pursuing a STEM major)
84% of hiring managers rated their Code2College high school interns as performing either “at” or “above” the level of the average undergraduate intern staffed on their team
Impact
I participated in Code2College for several years after moving to the US from Venezuela learning how to code and building professional skills in workshops. During my Junior year, I was introduced to Indeed as a Code2College internship host partner and after a rigorous technical interview process secured a paid, Software Engineering internship before my senior year of high school.
Current Metrics
Since 2016, Code2College high school interns have collectively earned over $4.5M
96% of Code2College graduating high school seniors from the class of 2024 matriculated to a 4-year university degree (with more than 80% pursuing a STEM major)
84% of hiring managers rated their Code2College high school interns as performing either “at” or “above” the level of the average undergraduate intern staffed on their team
Goals
Demographic
We serve high school students throughout the Miami-Dade county with a desire to ensure that all students have an opportunity to participate, regardless of zip code and access.
Funding Goal
Seeking $250,000 to serve 500 students and prepare them for paid, technical internships throughout the year.
Impact Goal
We aim to support 2,500 Miami-Dade high school students in their development of marketable technical and professional skills, support their STEM undergraduate and career pursuits.
