Impact Stories: Gio
Hispanic Heritage Month: Gio Discovers a New World (and Loves It)
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 19,800 new jobs in data and mathematical science by 2030 on top of the existing 63,200. It’s great news for Giovanni (Gio) Saavedra-Rios, a 2023 Cathedral High School graduate—as long as employers significantly improve their hiring practices. If current hiring practices hold, less than 1,400 (7%) of the new jobs will go to people of Hispanic heritage like Gio, the first in his family to be born an American.
In the meantime, great schools like Cathedral High School are preparing young adults like Gio by offering plenty of computer science (CS) classes and telling students about Nextech Catapult, a fully-immersive summer CS program.
Catapulting Toward a Future
About a year and a half ago, Gio had no career in mind, let alone one in CS. He thought he wanted to be an entrepreneur, so he started selling used clothing. (“My age group buys clothes that are thrifted.”) That prompted a few business needs.
“I wanted to figure out how to make a website,” he said. “My friends told me there were specific coding languages that I had no clue about. I only knew one, Java, and I only knew that one because I love video games. I was also searching out top-paying jobs specifically in tech and saw coding, computer science and pre-engineering.”
Gio started getting interested in learning more about tech, and he should have heard about Catapult at a meeting he attended since Nextech was a presenter. However …
“To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention, but my counselor was,” he chuckled. “He recommended Catapult to me since I was looking for a career path and went through the application with me.”
Experiencing CS in the Nick of Time
Gio discovered a Cathedral classmate on his first day of Catapult. They were the only familiar element, he said.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I love learning in general, and when I’m passionate I pick it up very easily. But I didn’t know how to code at all. Scott, our instructor, taught us, and it got kind of easy. He was really good.”
He learned coding with HTML, JavaScript and jQuery through assigned projects. And by the end of Catapult, he created his very own website.
“I made a website that was my portfolio. During the last week, we displayed all the projects on our website and presented to our teachers and classmates. I was voted in the Top 7 and also picked as Fan Favorite.”
Gio returned to Cathedral with a sense of purpose. He’s taking CS classes in Cathedral’s new Innovation Center and is part of a group that’s creating a coding club.
“Catapult most definitely changed my last year of high school. I’m interested now in UX/UI but still figuring out what I want to major in. I was brought up with a sense of trying to figure out what you like, and I really like artistic things like drawing and painting,” he said.
Expanding the 7%
Gio was born a year after his parents emigrated from Mexico. He’s the only member of his family reared outside of that country—and the only one who has ever thought about CS.
“With everybody in my family, including my whole family tree, the traditional way of going through college is to be a doctor or an engineer. None of us, until me, was brought up to be a part of computer science,” he said. “I had never even met a Hispanic or Latino in computer science until Nextech. When we started going on field trips is when I started seeing something besides white males in tech. Nextech really helped me find a person I could get guidance from.”
Gio wants everyone to know he’s grateful.
“Ever since Nextech, I’ve evolved myself by trying to use as much technology as I can. The readiness skills and everything Nextech taught us has helped me out a lot. I want to give thanks to Nextech, my counselor and my family.”
National Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year. The 2022 theme, “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation,” was captured by many artists, including Irene Matos Chan, Senior IT Manager, Square Tech Computer Repair & Training Center for the Castle Square Tenants Organization. You may download the poster for free as long as you credit the artist.
Cathedral High School offers Computer Programming I or AP Computer Science Principles, JavaScript, AP Computer Science A, App Development, Web Design and C++. Of its total student population, those who identify as Hispanic are 10.5% (IDOE), slightly more than half the overall U.S. Hispanic population percentage of 18.7% (U.S. Census 2020).
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 19,800 new jobs in data and mathematical science by 2030 on top of the existing 63,200. It’s great news for Giovanni (Gio) Saavedra-Rios, a 2023 Cathedral High School graduate—as long as employers significantly improve their hiring practices. If current hiring practices hold, less than 1,400 (7%) of the new jobs will go to people of Hispanic heritage like Gio, the first in his family to be born an American.
In the meantime, great schools like Cathedral High School are preparing young adults like Gio by offering plenty of computer science (CS) classes and telling students about Nextech Catapult, a fully-immersive summer CS program.
Catapulting Toward a Future
About a year and a half ago, Gio had no career in mind, let alone one in CS. He thought he wanted to be an entrepreneur, so he started selling used clothing. (“My age group buys clothes that are thrifted.”) That prompted a few business needs.
“I wanted to figure out how to make a website,” he said. “My friends told me there were specific coding languages that I had no clue about. I only knew one, Java, and I only knew that one because I love video games. I was also searching out top-paying jobs specifically in tech and saw coding, computer science and pre-engineering.”
Gio started getting interested in learning more about tech, and he should have heard about Catapult at a meeting he attended since Nextech was a presenter. However …
“To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention, but my counselor was,” he chuckled. “He recommended Catapult to me since I was looking for a career path and went through the application with me.”
Experiencing CS in the Nick of Time
Gio discovered a Cathedral classmate on his first day of Catapult. They were the only familiar element, he said.
“I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I love learning in general, and when I’m passionate I pick it up very easily. But I didn’t know how to code at all. Scott, our instructor, taught us, and it got kind of easy. He was really good.”
He learned coding with HTML, JavaScript and jQuery through assigned projects. And by the end of Catapult, he created his very own website.
“I made a website that was my portfolio. During the last week, we displayed all the projects on our website and presented to our teachers and classmates. I was voted in the Top 7 and also picked as Fan Favorite.”
Gio returned to Cathedral with a sense of purpose. He’s taking CS classes in Cathedral’s new Innovation Center and is part of a group that’s creating a coding club.
“Catapult most definitely changed my last year of high school. I’m interested now in UX/UI but still figuring out what I want to major in. I was brought up with a sense of trying to figure out what you like, and I really like artistic things like drawing and painting,” he said.
Expanding the 7%
Gio was born a year after his parents emigrated from Mexico. He’s the only member of his family reared outside of that country—and the only one who has ever thought about CS.
“With everybody in my family, including my whole family tree, the traditional way of going through college is to be a doctor or an engineer. None of us, until me, was brought up to be a part of computer science,” he said. “I had never even met a Hispanic or Latino in computer science until Nextech. When we started going on field trips is when I started seeing something besides white males in tech. Nextech really helped me find a person I could get guidance from.”
Gio wants everyone to know he’s grateful.
“Ever since Nextech, I’ve evolved myself by trying to use as much technology as I can. The readiness skills and everything Nextech taught us has helped me out a lot. I want to give thanks to Nextech, my counselor and my family.”
National Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 each year. The 2022 theme, “Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation,” was captured by many artists, including Irene Matos Chan, Senior IT Manager, Square Tech Computer Repair & Training Center for the Castle Square Tenants Organization. You may download the poster for free as long as you credit the artist.
Cathedral High School offers Computer Programming I or AP Computer Science Principles, JavaScript, AP Computer Science A, App Development, Web Design and C++. Of its total student population, those who identify as Hispanic are 10.5% (IDOE), slightly more than half the overall U.S. Hispanic population percentage of 18.7% (U.S. Census 2020).
