Eric Hagarty, acting secretary of education, recently went to the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts to tour its PNC Innovation Zone.
The PNC Innovation Zone addresses gender and equity barriers and bridges the digital divide for underserved and underrepresented youth. It offers weekly activities for children eight and older. Programs include Emerging Healthcare Professionals: Science of Surgery Camp, Innovation 101, Girls in STEM, Surgery Live!, and after-school learning.
More than 90 percent of children play video games. Whitaker Center and its partners wanted to offer a space for youth to share a passion for gaming and esports and to learn about the coding, art, and technology embedded in video games.
“At the state level, we work each day to ensure that Pennsylvanians have access to fun, engaging, and high-quality learning opportunities both in and out of the classroom, and the PNC Innovation Zone is a great example of businesses teaming up to provide experiential learning opportunities to their communities,” Hagarty said.
The Gov. Tom Wolf Administration invested $116 million in science, computer science, and technical education over the past seven years and has increased education funding by more than $3.7 billion.
In addition, the administration has secured $40 million for career and technical education.