Hey Future STEM individual,

I would first like to begin by congratulating you all in advance on all that you will accomplish and become. My name is Sarah, and I am currently working, loving, growing, evolving, and succeeding in my STEM journey. A little bit about myself, I am a New York native, born and raised in Queens, dog lover, and part-time nerd. I, just like you all, went to elementary school, then junior high, then highschool, and finally made my way into College. As I'm typing this, I still can not believe how far I have made it. I am currently employed by Verizon. Not only do I love the company I work for, but I'm honored to be in an environment where my brain can be stimulated and my career choices are not limited.

Hello there,

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math. Why is STEM for you? You can be ANYTHING THAT YOU WANT TO BE IN THIS WORLD! The world is your oyster. DO you love Science, technology, engineering or math? The world needs more people that look like you. We need more leaders that are willing to go after a passion that will help them to be successful in life. Dream big and keep learning. 

Dear Future STEM Leaders,

STEM is so all encompassing and broad reaching that there is virtually something in it that any of us can find an interest in or passion towards.   This field allows you to solve problems, develop new ideas and conduct research. Whether you opt to teach others via education or perhaps develop new technologies, there is something where we all can put our strengths to use for the greater good. 

Hey Future STEM individual, 

I would first like to begin by congratulating you all in advance on all that you will accomplish and become. My name is Sarah, and I am currently working, loving, growing, evolving, and succeeding in my STEM journey. A little bit about myself, I am a New York native, born and raised in Queens, dog lover, and part-time nerd. I, just like you all, went to elementary school, then junior high, then highschool, and finally made my way into College. As I'm typing this, I still can not believe how far I have made it. I am currently employed by Verizon. Not only do I love the company I work for, but I'm honored to be in an environment where my brain can be stimulated and my career choices are not limited. 

Hey there!

My Name is Naje. I have been working as a data scientist for about 4 years. I enjoy the work that I do as the work is always different, mentally challenging and I am able to bring my insight from growing up as a African American towards data collection and add my own style towards coding and presenting. I hope this letter encourages you to try to enter the S.T.E.M field or at least give you some tips on what to avoid as you grow in your journey.

Hello,

My name is Sam and I am here to encourage you to join us in the STEM field. STEM offers many career paths – science, technology, engineering and math.  I chose the technology path because of its flexibility. It has been a very exciting and dynamic career. If you like learning new things and solving complex problems with a team of exciting people, then you will be happy with this choice.  Below I will list various tips that will pave your way into a technology career. 

Hey there!

My name is Ishania (Ish) Forsett.  I am black girl from Brooklyn, NY who currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA. I enjoy traveling, trying new self care experiences and cycling. I am also an advocate of STEM. I have worked in the technical field for over 20 years. I am currently the Associate Director of Technical Support at Verizon and my sister is a civil engineer. For these reasons, I would like to encourage you to choose a career path in STEM. Here are 3 reasons why:

Hey there!

I’m so happy you are considering choosing a career in STEM.  As a kid I loved to take things apart and put them back together to figure out how they worked. I didn’t realize until later that this was the behavior of someone who was curious and a problem solver which goes well with a STEM career.  I also loved roller coasters and decided I wanted to be the one who designed them. 

Hey there!

My name is Alocka and I am writing to you to tell you how you are important to STEM and some tips on how I got started and what I am doing today with Verizon. I was always curious about new technology. I grew up watching my mother's love for computers. She was a successful engineer for NASA. She actually helped put the security systems on space shuttles. Asking questions is always a positive interest. So find someone that is in a field of your interest and ask away.

Hello there! 

My name is Chris and I am a data scientist working at Verizon. I have been working for 7 years in tech with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science. If you are reading this, then you most likely have an interest in a STEM field and are looking to pursue a career in STEM which is great! I would like to describe my journey into how I got into STEM and how I ended up where I am now in hopes that this can give you some direction or at least some ideas for your own journey.

Hey there!

My name is Cheryl and I live in Tulsa, OK and attended Tulsa Public Schools.  I went to John Paul Jones Elementary, Whitney Junior High and graduated from Nathan Hale High School.  I graduated 13th in my class of 576 students.  I was a daughter of a Tulsa Police officer and had three older brothers and a mother who worked in the home.  When I wanted to go to college, my parents didn’t have the money to send me.  My older brothers had gone to a Junior college, a technical school, and one went into the Marine Corp.  No one had figured out how to pay for a four-year college.  My high-school counselor had told me that I would be a great Mother like my own, but I always wanted more for my life.  I wanted to be independent from needing family or friends to help me live a wonderful life. 

Hello There,

My journey into STEM started with Telecommunications. I began my journey working as a Field Technician at Comcast. This introduced me to IT Networking. From there I started to work at Verizon FiOS as a Field Technician which allowed me to learn even more about Networking. Before being in the role that I’m currently in I had a chance to work at a bank doing Cloud related things.

Hey there!

I work as a Wireless Network Engineer. I have always had an interest in technology. I grew up in a household where my father was a computer engineer so I was exposed at a young age to circuit board, mother boards and cpus. My father encouraged us to learn computer programming too. Even though it was a hobby I eventually went to college to be a Historian. I enjoyed research and discovery so thought this career path suited me. My path did not lead me to anything directly related to history but the research skills helped me land positions that required critical thinking. Still in the back of my mind I thought about technology. I was always the go to person to fix issues and help my co-workers navigate their computers.

Hey there!

My name is Jason and I currently work as a data scientist at Verizon! When I began my journey into the field, I was unsure as to what career path I wanted to follow. I had always been good at math and interested in it, so I decided that I wanted to learn more about what I could do with math and ended up finding the field “data science”. What I think is cool about data science is that it really encompasses anything in STEM that you want it to, and it is all centered around producing outcomes that accomplish or support whatever problem, project or idea you can come up with. Another thing that is great about data science is that there are no set prerequisites that you need to start in the field, you just need to have a topic that you are passionate about and the drive to find ways to use Math, statistics, programming or any other data science methods that you can to help you accomplish that goal. One specific thing that led me deeper into STEM was a presentation that I saw about fantasy football players.

Hey there!

Congratulations on following your passion to see where a career in STEM will take you! There are so many places and ways that coding, engineering, or science are used today. You may not see someone like you in that position, but the people you work and build with take many shapes, beliefs, and approaches. That’s what makes STEM so amazing – anyone can find a place with the training and opportunities out there.

Hey there!

Hello, I'm Terica, but my friends call me TJ. I am super excited to be able to write to you today! A bit about me, I attended the University of Maryland to study education. Then teaching for two short years is when I quickly decided the "teaching life" wasn't for me. Kudos and lots of respect to all the outstanding teachers who have all the patience possible and are really changing the world. Once I decided teaching was not the best fit for me, I explored other options. I applied for a Customer Service Agent position with Verizon. I have now been with the company for seventeen years. I love my job and the company. When I started working for the company, understanding the business side was challenging. This is why I returned to school for a business degree and graduated in 2020; yay! I am currently in a Senior Analyst Position formerly titled Consultant at Verizon. I travel, speak to and meet several new people on a day-to-day basis. 

Hey there!

My name is Catrice and I am a math instructor in one of the inner city schools of Chicago. I have been in the education field for 10 years. I am also in charge of the STEM program within the after school program. Since the age of 12, I have always been interested in math and knew that I wanted a career that included math and kids. I believe that anything pertaining to science, technology, engineering and math is our future. As a math educator, I make sure to expose and explain the importance of entering a STEM career. Having a STEM career is not only engaging but also will help with your problem solving and critical thinking skills.

Hey there!

My name is Ngozi Onyekaba. I am a female senior manager at Verizon, over a team of Engineers that use data to create pretty pictures and charts that the business use to make decisions. It’s a really cool job as it allows you to use your creativity, logical and analytical skills to design cool visuals that tell a story to the business. 

Hey there!

My name is Leon King. I’m a Senior Manager of Systems Engineering with Verizon. I’m an African American man in the technology industry. My interest in the field started when I took a computer programming class in high school, BASIC. We used BASIC to create drawings on a computer screen using, what I didn't realize then, programming logic and control loops. I did very well in this class and my teacher encouraged me to pursue a major in college.

Hey there!

My name is Khania Dawson, I am a Senior Manager in Verizon’s Corporate Finance organization and I work within the Enterprise Risk Management Team.  My team and I work to make sure that we have proper controls or checks and balances in place to support the accuracy of Verizon’s financial statements.