exploretech.la: Spark LA's Next Generation of Engineers

Help us bring 400 high school students from underserved Los Angeles communities to UCLA for a free day of hands-on tech and engineering.

Who we are

exploretech.la is a UCLA student-led organization that makes technology and engineering accessible to high school students across Los Angeles. Through hands-on workshops, mentorship, and our annual flagship event at UCLA, students explore different areas of STEM, build technical skills, and learn directly from UCLA students and industry professionals.

Our goal is simple: give every student an engaging, approachable way to find out if STEM is right for them.

Our history

exploretech.la started in May 2017 inside UCLA ACM as the TEALS Computer Science Fair, with Microsoft Philanthropies' TEALS program as our title sponsor. After a successful first event, the team grew past 20 members and became an independent student organization supported by the UCLA Computer Science Department and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. In 2020, we received the ESUC Emerging Star Award for significant growth and potential.

Today, our 40+ members host 300 to 500 students every year. At a recent event, more than 350 students attended from 9 high schools, 7 of them Title I schools. In 2024, we launched Ignite, a 4-week program where 50+ high school students built their own websites, games, and machine learning models with UCLA mentors.

The results show. After our event, 73% of students said they were more interested in majoring in STEM, and 71% said they were more likely to pursue higher education. One of our own content directors first attended exploretech.la as a high school student. Today, he designs the workshops that inspire the next class.

The problem

Talent is everywhere in Los Angeles. Opportunity is not. Across California, only 34% of high schools serving mostly Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Pacific Islander students offer computer science courses, compared to 52% of schools serving mostly white and Asian students. Schools in low-income communities are 3 times less likely to offer core computer science courses (Kapor Center, California Computer Science Access Report, 2021). Many of these students are the first in their families to go to college, and they rarely get the chance to see what a career in tech or engineering looks like.

We keep exploretech.la free for every student and school. That means our team covers the venue, lunch for 400 students, workshop materials, and event supplies. Our full event costs over $15,000, and university funding covers only part of it.

How you can help

Your gift goes directly into the hands of students. It puts hot glue guns and circuit kits on workshop tables, lunch on every plate, and a tote bag of UCLA swag in the hands of a student who may be stepping onto a college campus for the first time.

Our goal: raise $5,000 by November 27. Every dollar helps us welcome 400 high school students to UCLA this spring. Whether you give $5 or $1,000, you help a student discover what they can build.

Thank you for supporting the next generation of LA engineers!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS

Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments.