Hoover AOIT (10th)

Overview: Digital advocacy uses technology to invoke change and support a cause. Our focus group was PATH, which focuses on California by building affordable housing and providing support services. We showcased this advocacy group along with our peers' by creating a Hoover Hub Website and coded it.

Project Initiation: The planning process and our DOJO project launch along with Mid City CAN coming to visit our classroom helped us contextualize the project and its goals about researching issues in our community of City Heights, which helped us to narrow down what interested us and what groups we would want to interview and reach out to.

Project Exploration and Development: Researching about homeless advocacy groups was difficult but where we learned the most. If we didn’t come across PATH, then we wouldn’t have been able to interview their Associate Director of Outreach, Brian Gruters. The real world interview skills and the steps we had to take to practice our interview skills in history, work on coding in AP Computer Science, & also email strategies and script for interview in ELA gave us the knowledge needed to create the website with my team. This project was a great introduction into the real world. We learned how to network with adults, carry out professional interviews, and design websites and infographics for people. I believe that we will use these skills throughout the rest of our professional career, and it's great to get a start in high school.

Project Revision and Exhibition: We realized that our website looked horrible, so we had our teacher Mr. Wetzel give us some tips on website design, so we changed the banners for each page and added contact info for every advocacy group. We are hoping to do the exhibition at the CCTE Showcase so that we can share our hard work and coded website with all the awesome community advocacy groups and resources that are present in City Heights!

Teachers and Subjects: Jack Wetzel - Comp Sci, Tricia Vasquez - English, Natalia Tyler - English, Dan Barone - History

Industry Sector: Information and Communication Technologies