Asjed Bokhary says the new Oakridge Studio teen tech center will give her access to new technologies and help her achieve her goal of fixing world problems.

The 13-year-old, who goes by “Judy,” is an eighth grader at Des Moines’ Callanan Middle School. She hopes to use the center to learn more about computer coding as she considers becoming a scientist later in life. Although she doesn’t know specifically what area of science she might want to study or pursue a career in, her goal is to help solve energy problems facing the world.

The center, which will be at Mainframe Studios, is funded by the Best Buy Foundation and Amerigroup, and is a member of the Clubhouse Network. It will offer students ages 13 to 21 the opportunity to explore cutting-edge technologies, ranging from music and vocal production, audio engineering, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, graphic design, engraving, drones and more. Students will be able to participate in both collaborative and individual projects, training and workshops.

Although it is just a block from the Oakridge Neighborhood, the center will be open to any teenager in the Des Moines area, organizers said.

A soft opening for the center is planned in early December, with it becoming fully open in January. FEH Design and Estes Construction are overseeing architecture, design, engineering and construction phases for the center.

The goal of the center is not only to give students the opportunity to explore technologies they might not otherwise have access to but also to provide opportunities through mentoring and internships to see how they can turn their interest in technology into a career for the future.

Bokhary sees the tech center as a place where she can learn about different types of technology as she pursues her goal of solving the world’s energy problems.

“If you get better now, you’ll be better in the future,” said Bokhary, whose family fled war-ravaged Syria when she was just a year old.

A safe place to create

Derek Frank, the center’s coordinator, said the center will give students the opportunity to connect their interests in technology to a possible career path.

“This is a fun way to get excited and not even realize why, and that they’re using science and math,” he said. “It’s about career paths and that you may not have to go to college to do well, or maybe go to a tech school. So working with companies like John Deere or Apple or Meta and Microsoft and having those mentors come in and work with those kids and give them some pride in something and get them excited.”

Frank said by working with Best Buy and Boston-based The Clubhouse Network, which is based on a model from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, connections can be made with companies that can offer mentoring and training.

Kristin Littlejohn, vice president of development at Oakridge Neighborhood, which submitted the grant application to Best Buy for the center, said the center follows the philosophy of The Clubhouse Network in that it is student driven, making it different from most work-based learning programs available for students.

“It’s self-motivated, so that feels different to me than the different programs out there,” she said. “Here, we’re not dictating what students are learning. There will be programming every single week where we introduce concepts to them that they might explore, but really, if a student wants to come in, it’s what they want to develop and learn and grow into.”

Littlejohn said Oakridge has begun outreach to build partnerships in the community that will provide support, both funding and volunteers, for the future.

The tech center will be partially funded through a grant agreement with the Best Buy Foundation, which in turn has a partnership with Amerigroup. Other funding partners include the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, F&G, John Deere, Global Atlantic and Athene.

The Best Buy Foundation is investing $195,000 in the first year, which includes a matching grant for construction, a technology grant, a staffing grant and a furniture grant. Future funding will be a combination of corporate partnerships, private investment and public support from the community.

Frank said the center will have space to accommodate up to 45 students a day.

While students will have to check in to use the center, he said he wants it to be a place where students feel safe from problems they might be having at home or school.

“This has to be a place that can harbor their creativity and give them excitement,” said Frank, who spent 11 years in the music industry in Nashville, Tenn., where he opened the Nashville School of Rock. 

He later became an artist relations manager, working with artists including Steven Tyler, Garth Brooks and Bob Dylan, among others, before transitioning into social media marketing, digital marketing and content creation, running his own consulting business.

Littlejohn said having the center in Mainframe Studios can also expose students to other artists and innovators who use space in the building and provide opportunities for those people to engage with students.

“At first, it was just that this would be a cool location, but then not realizing how organically people are coming across this space,” she said.

The center also has parking and is on a bus route, making it easily accessible to anyone who wants to use it, Littlejohn said.

“It’s not just for Oakridge kids; we’re going to be a community resource,” she said.

The workforce development connection 

Almardi Abdalla, vice president of family and workforce programs at Oakridge, called the tech center a “game changer” in exposing students to possible career paths at a younger age.

“Especially for the population we serve here,” he said. “Our clientele are refugees and immigrants.”

He said focusing on youths earlier will pay off in the long run in filling the talent pipeline.

“One of the issues we’re seeing is there is a skill gap,” Abdalla said. “There are a lot of tech jobs out there but most of our clientele don’t have the skills to be hired for these positions. And that goes back to networking. They don’t see people like them working in these areas.”

He said a child may often look to their dad when thinking about a career, but in the refugee and immigrant community, most children live in single-parent families, most often led by a woman who generally is managing the household and doing other jobs.

That creates a perception among some children that they will grow up to have the same job as that parent, Abdalla said.

The tech center will help provide mentorships and role models that may be lacking in the young person’s life, and help them break out of that cycle, he said. 

Abdalla said the Teen Tech Center will be a “great first step into the tech world for those who want it.”

“I think many will come to have fun … and make games because they like games, but they don’t see themselves being a game maker or programmer,” he said. “You will also find those who are actually into this and they want to be in those fields, so you give them the opportunity to explore more and then we also make sure we connect them with others who are specialized in it and they can take it to another level.”

Rona Berinobis, senior vice president of corporate social responsibility, organizational development and internal communications at Athene, said the decision for the company to support the Teen Tech Center was a “slam dunk.”

 “It was very clear that it was something we wanted to be a part of and for all the reasons it exists, recognizing that with opportunity comes new and bigger avenues for those who are involved,” she said. “For those students, without opportunities like this, what’s the art of the possible for them?”

Berinobis, who also sits on the Oakridge board of directors, said the opportunity for students who use the tech center to engage with volunteers and mentors who can provide career guidance and serve as role models is maybe as important, if not more so, than that access to the technology itself.

“That’s part of why we wanted to be connected with it,” she said. “When we do philanthropic giving, we try to have a connection beyond the finances. We want to be engaged and want people to roll up their sleeves and be involved.”

That connection may put Athene on the radar as a potential future employer for young people who participate, Berinobis said.

“It’s about workforce development,” she said. “It really behooves us as an organization that we have people that inspire these young individuals, they go and get further education and they think about Athene as a future employer because they had such a great experience with one of our people. So it’s huge.”

Berinobis said it’s important for other business leaders in the region to take note and be involved.

“These young people are the ones that will blaze the trail for others,” she said. “They will eventually be the role models for the next generation … and be the ones to help others see the opportunities.”

“These kinds of opportunities matter and can be the springboard into greatness for each and every one of these individuals,” Berinobis said.

The future

Zamiratu Dainkeh, 17, a senior at Roosevelt High School, said she plans to attend college next fall (the University of Iowa is her first choice) and study business and design. The Teen Tech Center will be an opportunity to better prepare her for that next phase in her life, she said.

“Some of the things they offer align with my career plans and what I want to do, which is pretty exciting,” said Dainkeh, who lives in the Oakridge Neighborhood.

Dainkeh said the center will also give students the opportunity to display their interests in possible careers to mentors and others from companies that could provide future employment.

“We don’t get that many opportunities to be able to try new things and know if we’re good at something or if we can excel at something,” she said. “I feel like if you don’t know what you’re good at, you won’t work hard at it, or if you’re not interested in what you’re doing, you won’t be productive.”

Bokhary, the middle-schooler who wants to study science and someday help solve world energy problems, said she’s excited for the center to open because it will give her the opportunity to create and innovate.

Bokhary, who doesn’t have time during the school week to participate in tech programs at school because she plays point guard on her basketball team, does participate in the National Society of Black Engineers Jr. program on weekends, where she is working on robots.

The Teen Tech Center will expand her access to learn more about not only robotics but other technologies, too, she said.

She is particularly interested in computer coding and the chance to have a workstation to “build stuff.”

“I will get to try out new things that maybe I’ve thought about but haven’t really had a chance to do,” said Bokhary, who lives in the Oakridge Neighborhood with her mom and 20-year-old brother. “It gives me an idea of what I could do.”