WNY Hosts New After School Learning Opportunities For Area Youth

Rochester, NY -- (SBWire) -- 07/21/2010 -- Time Warner Cable employees continue to mentor local middle school students as part of it's Connect A Million Minds goal to reignite enthusiasm around science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Latest efforts to engage students in Western New York include participants from BEAM (Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities) and MST (Math, Science, Technology) Summer Camp in Batavia, New York. The two groups were offered hands-on learning with Time Warner Cable’s signature Cracking the Codes in the Digital World curriculum.

Based on national science standards, this hands-on, inquiry-based program provided the middle-school students with a technological understanding of how a cable television signal is created using energy conversion, transmitted through space and received in the home. Local Time Warner Cable employees facilitated the activities, and gave the students a guided tour of Time Warner Cable’s engineering facility.

Middle school students, teachers and organizations can sign-up to participate in Time Warner Cable's signature program by visiting http://www.connectamillionminds.com.

Founded in 1982, BEAM is a cooperative educational enrichment program that prepares inner city, minority, female and other under-represented students for careers in science, engineering, and technology.

Time Warner Cable’s (TWC) Connect a Million Minds (CAMM) is a five-year, $100 million philanthropic initiative to address America’s declining proficiency in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which puts our children at risk of not competing successfully in a global economy. CAMM leverages TWC assets across cable television and the Internet to drive awareness of this critical issue and provide simple and easy ways for parents and kids to get involved in their own communities.

TWC’s national CAMM partners are CSAS (Coalition for Science After School) and FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), both of which offer valuable STEM opportunities nationwide. They are joined by a National Advisory Board of entrepreneurs and STEM experts who guide the overall direction of the program. The Board Members are: Jodi Grant, Executive Director of the Afterschool Alliance; Margaret Honey, Ph.D., President and CEO, New York Hall of Science, Joshua Schuler, Executive Director, Lemelson-MIT Program and Dean Kamen, President and CEO, DEKA Research & Development and Founder, FIRST.