My Nonprofit Reviews
mark-lawler
Review for Techstart Education Foundation, Portland, OR, USA
TechStart Education Foundation is a wonderful non-profit that helps promote technology education in Oregon K-12 schools through its programs, events, scholarships, grants, and donations. I donated my time to recruit, educate, and coordinate a group of over 40 volunteer judges for the annual Oregon Game Project challenge. The middle school and high school students that participated in this event were able to not only demonstrate their research and talent, but were also able to learn from 3-4 judge panels made up of industry experts who shared their professional experiences with the participating students. I was amazed by both the interest and participation at the middle school level as well as the diversity in terms of the student populations. In an environment where our leading technology educators are being laid off by schools (even winners of our Technology Educator of the Year award and grant winners for funds for their class rooms) these types of programs are critical for keeping our K-12 students interested in high tech pursuits.
More Feedback
I've personally experienced the results of this organization in...
I've seen first hand how much the students have learned as a result of events like OGPC, the grants that have enabled teachers to purchase technical learning materials for their classrooms, as well as the scholarships that seniors have received.
If I had to make changes to this organization, I would...
Do more? Seriously, there is so much work to do...now more than ever. With technology educators being laid off there is a real void to fill in terms of educating those teachers left behind in how to teach technical skills to students. Requires more $...
What I've enjoyed the most about my experience with this nonprofit is...
Seeing how K-12 students have benefited by the results of TechStart and the efforts of TechStart volunteers.
The kinds of staff and volunteers that I met were...
Very dedicated. These are high-tech professionals and educators that want to make a difference. Who want to provide a top notch education to our K-12 students.
If this organization had 10 million bucks, it could...
Really make a huge impact in the state of Oregon. TechStart could deliver more SuperQuest training events for educators, donate more technical training materials and Lego Robotics Kits to schools, and provide more scholarships to seniors.
Ways to make it better...
I could make a bigger impact. Especially given the cuts being made in K-12 in terms of technology education--education that would have helped students pursue high paying jobs and thus help feed the future economy of Oregon.
In my opinion, the biggest challenges facing this organization are...
Funding. TechStart operates on donations and puts those right back in to K-12. The training, programs, donations, grants, and scholarships TechStart can make available is limited by donations.
One thing I'd also say is that...
I do a lot of volunteer work to give back to the community. TechStart and Rebuilding Together Portland are my favorite groups that make a big impact in the community.
How frequently have you been involved with the organization?
About every six months
When was your last experience with this nonprofit?
2010
