MINNEAPOLIS - Young minds were insprired by one of the world's most successful companies Saturday. A team from Google stopped by to pass along skills to high school students in Minneapolis.
"With this training, I'm learning more about technology than I ever did before," said Claire McKitrick, a high school student at Roosevelt. "The more I learn, the more it will help me."
Seventy-five students from the city's Step Up program took part in the all-day seminar. The students, all of which are soon-to-be summer interns at companies across the Twin Cities, heard from Google executives about various internet platforms and how to reach customers using technology. The training is a new initiative by Google.
"This the first time that Google has ever done a youth entrepreneurship summit," said Steve Grove, the company's Head of Community Partnerships. "Reaching young people now and giving them the skills and inspiration is a big part of our outreach here."
The team from Google separated the students into smaller teams and facilitated a "pitch competition" where youth had to work together to create a technology solution to a real-world problem. The problems ranged from getting into college to traffic along the freeway.
"I want to get ready for the real world," said Carl Loble, a senior at Washburn High School. "Every second I'm trying to learn something new that I can add to my repertoire that puts me ahead of the next guy."
And for the team from Google, a "leg up" for the future is what days like today are all about.
"We hope these students create the next Google when they get older," says Grove. "This type of training will give them the inspiration motivation to do that."
Those from the Minneapolis Step Up program says the training day was successful and hope Google makes another stop in the future.
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