9768 MICHAELS WAYELLICOTT CITY, MD21042
United States
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Organization Information
Mission Statement
TeCanal is a people-focused, student-founded nonprofit organization tackling the issues of poor STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education and lack of access to technology in low-income communities. As its name suggests, Te(ch)Canal aims to be a "canal", or link, between technology and the communities that will benefit from it, connecting youth in all communities together in pursuit of a unified goal: STEM education for all.
Description
One day, while living in the Korean countryside without access to computers or the internet, seven-year-old Handa Chun received his first computer. That coffee-stained Windows 95 computer unveiled a new world of possibilities for Handa. It brought him joy that sparked his passion for technology.
Eleven years later, as a high school student in Maryland, Handa wanted to bring that same joy to underprivileged children in Baltimore and empower them. In May 2015, Handa approached co-founders Dhivyan Karunakaran, Robert Jett, and Han Seung Chun to propose his idea of creating a nonprofit organization that would bring technology and STEM education to children who lack access to them. The four founders of TeCanal structured the organization and developed a plan for TeCanal’s growth.
In October 2015, TeCanal’s first STEM outreach program began at the Mattie B. Uzzle Outreach Center in Baltimore, MD. TeCanal’s second STEM outreach program began in May 2016 at the Immigration Outreach Service Center in Baltimore. Its third outreach program in Baltimore, which focuses on a combination of STEM education and art education, began in July 2017 as a partnership between TeCanal and a nonprofit organization called Creative Alliance. Each summer, TeCanal runs a class that is part of a summer camp called EK2K for refugee children living in Baltimore County, Maryland. Today, TeCanal consists of its board of directors, executive officers, collegiate board of committees, and high school student volunteers who serve over seventy children every year.
