The Pixel: Urban Arts Newsletter September

Urban Arts Receives Multiple Nominations for Women in Tech Awards

Congratulations to Soliat and Joelle for being chosen as finalists for the Women in Tech North America Awards!
Soliat Adeboye is an Urban Arts alum and now a first-year at Clarkson University, majoring in Computer Science. Joelle is the Post-Secondary Success Manager at Urban Arts. She actively supports and advocates for girls and women in tech, helping historically-underrepresented youth navigate the college application process for STEAM degrees. And (drumroll) Urban Arts’ Game On curriculum has also been chosen as a finalist for the Most Impactful Initiative Award. STEAM ROLL! (GET IT?!)
Urban Arts Has a New Chief Program Officer

Welcome to Amy Patterson, PhD (she/her) as Chief Program Officer (CPO) at Urban Arts. As CPO, Amy will drive Urban Arts’ growth strategy and oversee the organization’s current programming. Amy brings a deep knowledge of arts and technology education and an entrepreneurial spirit that has already helped Urban Arts expand programming into eight states. Amy also went to Nuclear Engineering Summer Camp in high school—twice. Full announcement here.
Super-fun Summer Camp Wraps Up with 0 Mosquito Bites

Eighty (!) students debuted the games they collaboratively built at the end of our six-week summer program. They presented their projects to the group and took turns playing each other’s games, giving engaged and supportive feedback.
Three lucky students won #Nickelodeon backpacks full of swag (thank you, #Paramount!), and everyone took the time to reflect on what they were proud of and who helped them get there. When asked “What can I do now that I couldn’t do 6 weeks ago?” one student replied “Code without crying!” Faculty and students got loads of Post-It shoutouts (especially Daquan Griffith!). One student wrote to another, “You are truly legendary, and our journey together has been an honor. Keep conquering, keep growing, and remember, the adventure continues.”
Thank you, ROKU!
We recently celebrated the completion of a 6-week initiative with Roku and Urban Arts’s rising-seniors in our College Access program. The students learned Roku-specific coding languages in order to make customized screensavers for their Roku devices. They presented their work to Roku employee volunteers and we’ couldn’t be more proud’re so chuffed! Thanks to Roku for facilitating this access and exposure for our students.
DC-Bound 🏛 for ED Games Expo

We’ll be in DC for ED Games Expo September 19-22! The ED Games Expo is a showcase of game-changing education technology (EdTech) developed through programs at The Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Urban Arts will be hosting a power class, “Unlocking the Code of Abstraction.” Urban Arts’ Ghost School is a game design curriculum and learning platform for computer science and coding. We’re posting up at the Kennedy Center in the Macaroni room.