Digital Scholars instructors and program staff. Photography by Winnie Wu.
The heart of Pritzker Tech Talent Labs’ Digital Scholars program is, of course, the scholars themselves. But the lead learners, program coordinators, and instructors form the backbone of the program. Meet the people who kept everything running smoothly in 2024. Their responses have been edited and condensed.
Meet the Lead Learners
Lead Learners are program alumni who have returned for a second year to tackle advanced projects and serve as in-class tutors. Their knowledge and guidance enhanced the learning experience for new participants, helping them quickly grasp complex concepts and maximize their potential in the program.
- Angel Moreno, an incoming freshman at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, planning to major in statistics and computer science
- Brynn Walker, an incoming freshman at University of Michigan, planning to major in computer science
- Jorge Rosado, an incoming freshman at University of Chicago, planning to major in computer science
- Kim Flores-Ramos, an incoming freshman at Wilbur Wright College, planning to major in education
- Melissa Yu, an incoming freshman at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, undeclared engineering major
- Shay Barrios, an incoming freshman at Illinois Institute of Technology, planning to major in mechanical engineering.
What is your dream career?
Angel: A data scientist who can use my skills to positively impact the community around me.
Brynn: A software developer!
Jorge: A software engineer! I want to be able to program software that can make an impact in the world. Whether that is at a big tech company, small tech company, or even a start-up, I will do it as long as I can contribute something beneficial to the world.
Kim: A baker or psychologist.
Melissa: Software developer, front-end developer, or software engineer .
Shay: I want to create prosthetics. I think Iron Man is cool, but probably not legal, so I stuck with engineering prosthetics and rehabilitation to create my own company/clinic. My dream goal right now is to land an internship at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for prosthetics.
What is a moment that stood out to you during this summer’s program?
Shay: I really enjoyed the guest speakers. IIT is generous enough to offer me a free master’s degree along with my bachelor’s in the honors program for engineering. So, after hearing all the guest speakers, I’ve decided my master’s will be in business.
Melissa: The enthusiasm and dedication of my classmates as they worked on their final projects. It was inspiring to see their passion and the innovative ideas they developed, pushing themselves to think creatively and construct something they could take pride in.
Kim: The previous experiences of this year’s students. They have a lot more knowledge about tech, and I think that says a lot about this generation and upcoming ones. I also enjoyed seeing how much improved the projects are compared to last year’s, especially while using a newer version of the program to build our apps.
Brynn: When we started to build out our apps after drafting them. My partner and I divided the work, and every day when we would meet it was so cool to see how we each created features and brought our idea to life!
Angel: Hearing from a speaker who grew up in my neighborhood, who talked about their difficulties growing up and their success today.
Jorge: It’s so hard to pick just one moment that stood out from the program! Every day, something always stood out to me, from the daily speakers, who included CEOs, game developers, data analysts, and more. I was able to hear the tough journeys the CEOs went through to get to where they are today. I was able to hear the genuine passion the game developers had for their jobs. And I was able to hear the impacts the data analysts were making in their fields. The entire program stood out to me.
How is your experience different this time vs the first time you completed Digital Scholars?
Shay: It’s definitely a much larger community. There are lots of people to talk to. I like it; I think we inspire one another within a big community that we didn’t have before. I had fun teaching students not to blow up batteries!
Melissa: I was able to leverage the knowledge gained from the previous year to achieve more. I found myself working with more advanced code and refining my final project to perform tasks that were beyond my capabilities last year. I’m pleased with the new skills I acquired and the growth I experienced as a student.
Kim: Due to my previous experience, I knew what to expect, which helped me better prepare when it comes to helping team members/classmates with their app projects. My experience also changed because I met speakers who I’d heard from before as well as new ones. The last thing that changed was the people I met. I enjoyed meeting new people as well as seeing the diverse personalities.
Jorge: As a Lead Learner I was able to see the passion all the students had in learning computer science, while also continuing my studies myself. It was inspiring to see students who were driven enough to go past the recommended lessons and do almost more than double! I was in the same class last year and stopped at lesson 20 after the six-week period, and there were still students who caught up to me and were up to about lesson 40 by the same time! Not only was I able to help them, but eventually they were able to help me.
Brynn: This year was more fun for me! Last year, tackling Swift was hard, and I didn’t know what to expect for the showcase, so I felt like I was behind all summer. This year, the curriculum changed so that we built our app idea first, which made me feel more prepared. We also switched to SwiftUI, which made the coding process easier and allowed me to add more cool features to our app!
Angel: This year the speakers’ advice was more useful, since I am entering college and it will be a time where I need to develop skills, many of which the speakers talked about, independently.
Meet the Student Coordinators
The Student Coordinators wore multiple hats to ensure the Digital Scholars’ success. They prepared participants for the daily speakers, ensured the scholars got their questions answered during class, and served as role models for the younger students.
- Alayna Avila, a rising sophomore at Northwestern University, majoring in data science and economics
- Anthony Valenzo, a rising sophomore at UIC, majoring in computer science
- Ian Aguilar, a rising sophomore at UIC, majoring in mechanical engineering
- Rebekah Cheung, a rising junior at UIC, majoring in mathematics and communications
What is your dream career?
Anthony: To become a senior software engineer for a FAANG company in a big city like Chicago.
Ian: To own my own business and create inventions that help society.
Rebekah: To become a journalist and to use data analysis in my work.
Alayna: To own an entertainment company, including cartoons, video games, and animated movies.
What is a moment that stood out to you during this summer’s program?
Rebekah: The friendships made during class. In the beginning, everyone was shy, but after some time the students began talking to each other and helping one another with the course content. Digital Scholars is not only about learning computing but forming bonds with peers, and that networking can foster great friendships.
Alayna: I love when the students engage with each other during class. That sense of comradery is quite endearing given so many kids are hooked to their devices nowadays.
Anthony: A student from my ECE class asked how to use inputs for a simple LED project. That conversation led to her using the photoresistor in her kit to control a multicolor LED on their first day of using Arduino!
Ian: The improvement of the students, education- and engagement-wise. Seeing the students more engaged really made me want to keep doing my job.
How is your experience different from the first time you completed Digital Scholars?
Alayna: When I was a Digital Scholar, I felt the program wasn’t as developed, yet I appreciated it for what it was. We were the first in-person class for the program, and I still keep in touch with friends I made within the program. Now, things are more put-together, and the students have way more coding knowledge and skills than the students I was learning with. The program has also grown loads since I was a scholar, which is exciting to hear how many more students are getting exposed to tech and building their networks.
Anthony: Observing our ECE students build their robot cars now with various sensors and custom chassis was a really fun experience. I was excited by the jump in complexity in the finished motor cars from this year compared to last year.
Ian: Back then, I was super timid. I didn’t really participate as much and I would slack off. Now I am more confident and taking control of my life, which helps me be a better leader and engineer.
Rebekah: The program has grown significantly and has a lot of interactivity since it is in person. I also liked how this year’s Digital Scholars, especially in my Foundations in Computer Science and Coding class, focused more on self-paced learning and forming relationships with each other rather than a traditional classroom setting.
Meet the instructors
Last but not least: a huge shout-out to the instructional staff for the 2024 Digital Scholars program! Digital Scholars was able to reach new heights this year thanks to the exceptional instructors who made the courses engaging and fun.
- Aditya Ramesh, a rising sophomore at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in Statistics and Computer Science
- Duke Best, a professor of Data Analysis, Computer Science, and Business at City Colleges of Chicago
- Eduardo Ramirez-Luevano, a rising junior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business
- Jake Hunnius, an incoming master’s student in Statistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Mia Paelmo: a rising senior majoring in statistics at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Raymond Kotty, a math and computer science instructor at Fenwick High School
- Sri Sridhar, a PhD student in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Surya Vasanth, a master’s student in Industrial Engineering with a specialization in advanced analytics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Weronika Trzaska: a high school math and computer science teacher in the south suburbs of Chicago and a second-year master’s student in Computer Science at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
How did you get involved with Digital Scholars?
Aditya: Professor Geoffrey Challen posted information about it on the CS 124 forum. He recommended it as an opportunity for students interested in making a difference beyond the computer screen. It resonated with me as a role that aligns with my desire to impact others positively.
Duke: I was in the right place at the right time. DPI was looking for someone with software product management experience, who had also launched a mobile product, as well as teaching experience making technical concepts easy to understand and engaging for middle school, high school, early collegiate, and adult education learners, including a familiarity and teaching experience with Swift.
Eduardo: I was introduced to Digital Scholars through an email sent by Professor Challen. I serve as an assistant for his CS124 course, on which the Foundations curriculum is based.
Jake: I got involved with Digital Scholars from Karle and Wade, the professors who created the course that the data science program at Digital Scholars was based on.
Mia: Karle Flanagan and Wade Fagen-Ulmschneider teach Data Science Discovery at UIUC. They asked Jake to lead the course for DPI, and Jake asked me to be the TA!
Raymond: I am a member of the Computer Science Teachers Association. I met Todd McFarlin at one of the meetings, and he let me know about a summer teaching opportunity at DPI.
Sri: I found this opportunity through the UIUC – Grainger School of Engineering website and was very interested in the Exploring Electrical & Computer Engineering instructor role.
Surya: I got involved with Digital Scholars through my role as a course instructor for the “Exploring Electrical Engineering – Basic ECE Program” that ran during the summer of 2024.
Weronika: I first heard of DPI when I was finishing my computer science teaching endorsement two summers ago in their CSTEd program. Since then, I’ve been following the awesome work that DPI does with high school programs and saw that they were looking for additional help for the Foundations course this summer. I was eager to join the DPI family and be able to share my passion for computer science with the scholars in the program, so I applied. It was the best decision ever!
What is a moment that stood out to you during this summer’s program?
Weronika: Just seeing the students’ motivation and excitement to learn and take advantage of the program, and in turn, seeing their final projects. Students from all four classes created amazing final projects, and it was impressive to see their progress at the end of the six weeks. I’m honored to have been a part of the program this summer.
Surya: Witnessing the creativity and innovation of the students during their final projects. It was inspiring to see how they applied what they learned in unique and practical ways.
Sri: The response I got from the students was absolutely incredible; they were so engaged with the material, and it was very fulfilling when I gave quizzes and got back great results. Because of this experience, I am now leaning more toward academia and becoming a professor. As an illustration of the students’ rapid progress, in Week 1 they did not know what a breadboard was — but they worked through mini-exercises and tests throughout the program and by Week 6 they were able to build a whole robot using an Arduino!
Raymond: After so many days of just looking at the pieces and parts of the students’ apps, it was amazing to see them present their whole idea at once and see just how creative they all were.
Mia: There wasn’t one specific moment that stood out to me, rather it was amazing to see the growth of the scholars throughout the program. I honestly did not know what to expect coming into this position, and they totally hit it out of the park! The Data Science scholars continuously impressed and inspired me with their genuine interest and curiosity for data science. I had a great time connecting with all of them and I’m so proud of all their work!
Jake: The gallery walk really stood out to me. I got to see a lot of students who were normally quiet or withdrawn share parts of their personalities with people that they might not have interacted with before. The students did an incredible job at accurately describing the data science problem that they solved and explained it at a level that people not familiar with data science could understand.
Eduardo: Although not an isolated instance, I can recall several “a-ha” moments with scholars. Computer science is very abstract, and it can be difficult to conceptualize sometimes, but seeing the moment of realization or understanding on scholars’ faces was incredibly rewarding.
Duke: It is always the Scholars’ intellectual curiosity! Each year the program grows stronger, and what stood out most was how many participants said a version of, “a friend attended last year and highly recommended I apply.” Hats off to the DPI leadership team for selecting dozens of great Scholars to work with every day, sourcing inspirational and insightful daily speakers from Chicago’s tech community, and organizing the impressive “see it for yourself” local tech workspace field trips.
Aditya: A standout moment for me was when one of our students came to class on Monday, after the first week, already having completed the next two weeks’ worth of assignments. It was inspiring to see them harness their natural curiosity for computer science and dedicate their summer to learning!
Read more about the Digital Scholars’ busy summer.
Author: Winnie Wu