Walter “Twinky” Springs was first inspired to pick up a camera when he saw his mom watering flowers. He wanted to capture the beauty he saw in that moment.
He was nervous when he first started exploring photography because he didn’t really know what he was doing. But that feeling changed when he met Adrian, a mentor at his local Best Buy Teen Tech Center in Denver.
“He just taught me everything he knew, and I had to take advantage of that,” Twinky said.
When an adult enters a Best Buy Teen Tech Center, it might feel unstructured, maybe even a bit chaotic. But that’s entirely by design.
No one provides specific assignments or instructions like in a standard classroom. Rather, the teens are free to engage with the latest technology, like drawing tablets, robots, 3D printers and even a state-of-the-art music production studio.
The result is powerful. Teen Tech Centers aren’t just places where teens can access tech, but rather they serve as a foundation for community and self-discovery.
We love tech, and we’re committed to sharing that love with teens who might otherwise not have access.
Best Buy first launched Teen Tech Centers in 2012 to help teens from disinvested communities explore technology. Since then, we’ve opened 35 Teen Tech Centers across the country, with plans to expand to more than 100 in the next five years.
These are places where teens can develop critical skills through hands-on activities that explore their interests in programming, filmmaking, music production and design.
From access to software to learning the latest tech, Best Buy Teen Tech Centers are helping address the opportunity gap for teens in disinvested communities.
We know we can’t do it alone, so we work with a range of partners across the country — including a number of our vendor partners — to empower youth with the technology and tools they need to thrive now and in the future.
“What we’re trying to do with our Teen Tech Centers and Career Pathways programs is really to help build brighter futures for teens,” said Andrea Wood, vice president of social impact.
Olivia Pierce is a student who is using her talents to promote change by encouraging people to vote this election season.
Following recent calls for action regarding racial injustice, Olivia — who goes by the stage name Moyana Olivia — wrote a song and created a music video with the help of her peers at a Best Buy Teen Tech Center in Minneapolis.
“This song was written to raise awareness to racial injustice and encourage people to take tangible action against police brutality by voting in the general election of November 2020,” she wrote on Instagram.
The Brooklyn Public Library system in New York has played a special role in Nadine Cabrera’s life.
She got a part-time job at the Bay Ridge Library when she was 15 years old, helping visitors check out and return books. Then, in March 2019, a new Best Buy Teen Tech Center opened at the Kings Highway Library, and Nadine was hired to run it.
“I never had specific career goals. I just wanted a job that would allow me to keep a roof over my head,” she said.
While schools and extracurriculars are in flux because of the pandemic, teens are still searching for ways to learn, grow and be heard. So, it has become essential for our Best Buy Teen Tech Centers — and the coordinators who run them — to find new ways to stay connected with youth.
Best Buy Teen Tech Centers are safe, after-school spaces that provide opportunities for teens to learn new tech skills, stay on track with school, gain exposure to new career possibilities and benefit from positive adult and peer relationships.
Just days after George Floyd was senselessly killed in Minneapolis, Elizya Powell and Alexander Cash were making music when they had a realization: They could use their voices in a different way.
So they got up, made signs and started a protest to raise awareness around racial injustice.
They marched through Pittsburgh and handed out water bottles to police. Within a few hours, a crowd of 40 to 50 people had formed.
“We wanted to show how it should be done without it getting violent and send a message at the same time.
Many parents worry about their kids experiencing “brain drain” during the summer months, and that’s sure to be an even bigger concern this year as students transition from a spring of distance learning to a summer without many of the usual camps and other activities.
Just because schools aren’t in session doesn’t mean kids have to take a three-month break from learning. There are lots of activities that can provide summer fun while also unlocking their imaginations.
To learn more, we talked to Hafsa Aden, the coordinator at the Best Buy Teen Tech Center in Portland, Oregon.
Best Buy is forging ahead with the rapid expansion of its Teen Tech Center program, announcing five new locations that will open in 2020.
We’re adding a location in Los Angeles, where we opened one in 2016. We’ll also open our first locations in El Paso, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; Portland, Oregon; and San Jose, California.
Teen Tech Centers are free, interactive learning spaces where teens can explore technology and learn how to use it with the help of other teens and adult mentors.
Like the rest of the country, we have been watching with horror the wildfires in Southern California. Our thoughts are, of course, with our employees, customers and communities affected.
While all employees are safe, too many have been impacted, including one who lost his apartment to the fires and more than two dozen who were forced to evacuate and remain uncertain about the fate of their homes. We are working with each of them to get them help.
At the same time, we’re looking to do what we can among those less fortunate communities we serve who are facing the effects of these fires.