Kai Dupe – Kai Dupe Media, Julie Shannon – GirlStart, Lonny Stern – Skillpoint Alliance, Dr. Andrea Gore – UT Austin, Shireen Dadmehr - Ann Richards School, Albert Espinosa – It Could Be U Mentor, Justin Jefferson – It Could Be U Mentor

Taken together, Hispanics and African Americans now represent the majority of youth growing up in Texas. This past summer, the Media Communications Council surveyed African American and Hispanic middle school students.  Among the questions we asked was, “What is your favorite subject in school?”. Surprisingly, 2/3rds of them, including boys and girls, declared their favorite subject to be science. So, if most of these students enter high school with an affinity for science and technology, why are so few choosing these subjects as a major? Are we extinguishing their love of the sciences? If so, how can we reshape our science and tech related programs to keep this love flourishing? We’ll talk with some recent grads, mentors, educators and youth themselves about what’s working and how we can spread those best practices to more schools and youth.

Victor Saenz (Moderator) – UT Austin, Dana Glover – Midian Films, Dr. Richard Reddick (UT Austin), Sherry Lowry – The Lowry Group, Markell Davidson – Princess in Training, Christian Nelson - It Could Be U, David Frias – It Could Be U, John Luke – - It Could Be U 

It is accepted doctrine that one on one mentoring is beneficial for youth. In this panel, we’ll explore the slightly different concept we’ve named Exponential Mentoring, the idea that students benefit even more from being around many mentors focused around a particular field or fields of interest such as media communications, the sciences or music. We’ll here from mentors and students that participated in this past summer’s It Could Be U Camps for middle school youth. We’ll also lay out ways that professionals, educators, and non-profit organizations can build these types of mentoring relationships over the long term.

Laura Stich (Moderator) – MomCorp, Eve Richter – City of Austin, Nathan Green – Campus2Careers, Hoover Alexander – Hoover’s Cooking, Rishi Patel – Monazu Creative Group, Tony Aguilar – Amiti Advising

Are entrepreneurs simply born or is it possible to cultivate entrepreneurship in youth? With minorities quickly becoming the majority in states such as Texas and having disproportionately low participation in entrepreneurial endeavors, this becomes an important question. We’ll ask some leading entrepreneurs and youth themselves about their thoughts on the subject. We’ll also explore what resources are available for youth interested in entrepreneurship.

Engaging conversation led by moderator Kevin Koym – TechRanch, Jean-Claude Monney - Microsft,  Humberto Perez – Connally High School (Video Tech), David Robb – Pflugerville High School (Journalism) & Gil Garcia – Austin High School (Media Arts)

With so many free or low cost technology options available and limited time to explore, it’s difficult for educators and parents to find out which tools and practices work best for them. We invited some successful educators to share how they use video and technology to engage their students and support high achievement in the classroom.