Our 10th Demo Day: Three years of impact

For anyone who missed our Demo Day event on Nov. 19, I wanted to jot down some of my remarks here to share. We hope you’ll make plans to attend our next event on Friday, March 15!

We have a variety of people represented here today - employers, alumni, members of the programming and tech community, friends and family members. Welcome to all of you and thank you so much for being here.

I do want to recognize our graduates, who have worked incredibly hard to get to this point.

Demo Day is a rite of passage for graduates.

What they have accomplished is so much more than accelerated skills training.

The fact that they are standing here today is a huge testament to their ability to persevere.

I was reminded yesterday during the keynote talk at the Growth Summit in Columbia that humans are conditioned to resist change. Change is hard, and those who actively seek to change themselves and improve themselves are a special breed. That’s one of the reasons this experience is so special - it brings together people from a really diverse set of backgrounds and experiences, but who have a common trait - they don’t take the easy road.

I can wholeheartedly recommend these graduates as hard workers, people who have specific goals and who have the tenacity to reach those goals.

Thanks to Mady Chapman, lead instructor for Carolina Code School. She is incredibly dedicated to our mission and to these students, and none of us would be here today without her.

I do want to recognize our sponsors and supporters. Enok Collective, our Demo Day sponsor. This group has only been in Greenville for a few years but they have been so intentional in supporting our programs and students. Please join me in thanking Enok for today’s event.

I also want to thank our scholarship sponsors. We have a handful of anonymous sponsors who have supported our students. And I want to thank them wholeheartedly. I also specifically want to call out World Acceptance Corporation. This is a company that has now provided scholarships over multiple cohorts and they are specifically helping to change the lives of our students with financial challenges. Thank you to those of you here today from World.

If you or your company is interested in sponsoring our programs or our students, please get in touch. We have a full incoming cohort and we’re excited for a lot of growth in 2022.

This is part of something even bigger. You are part of something bigger. Whether you realize it or not, you are all part of the tech talent ecosystem.

At Build Carolina, we are building a variety of training programs to help make that talent ecosystem even stronger. In September, we hit year 3 on our statewide program for free coding education, SC Codes, which has thousands of registered learners. And we recently announced a new six-month fellowship program called Develop Carolina. We’ve got six companies hosting 12 mentors and we’re really excited to see where that program leads.

I’d like to thank the board members of Build Carolina who work hard to ensure what we do is always valuable. I also want to thank members of our technical advisory committee who help provide strategic guidance for our programs.

Thank you and enjoy!