How RISE ERG and Parkway Spark! Are Building Pathways Into WWT

For the past two years, members of World Wide Technology's RISE Employee Resource Group (ERG) have partnered with the Parkway Schools Spark! program, volunteering with high school students pursuing STEM disciplines. What began as ad hoc volunteer support has grown into a meaningful STEM Career pathway to WWT, helping students build confidence, connections and experience while opening the door to internships and, in some cases, full-time careers at the company.

Parkway Spark! gives high school students in the Parkway and Rockwood School Districts hands-on learning experiences created in partnership with local businesses and community organizations. The Spark! Technology Solutions program focuses on app and web development, cybersecurity, data analytics and other technology and helps students build the education, skills and real-world experience they need to prepare for an evolving workforce.

Supporting a local school district's STEM programs

WWT's relationship with Spark goes back further than RISE ERG itself. Students from the Spark! program have participated in WWT's STEM Student Forum since 2015. Over the past three years alone, more than sixty WWT volunteers have donated close to two hundred hours to the Spark! program, coaching young people in how to grow as professionals through resume reviews, the STEM Student Forum and group projects that mimic the work WWT accomplishes for clients. 

When WWT added RISE ERG to its Employee Resource Group program in 2024, members expanded the support and evolved it into a regular part of the ERG's work. Since then, RISE volunteers have led mock interviews, hosted two resume review sessions with a third planned for this fall and mentored students through hands-on mock projects that provide an immersive experience.

Students leave the experience with more than a stronger resume. Their feedback shows how RISE volunteers help them build confidence, make connections and better understand career opportunities in technology.

"One major takeaway, aside from making my resume more concise and highlighting statistics and numbers, is the importance of building connections for both the present and the future."

"My biggest takeaway was realizing how your passion can change through connections with the people you meet, and I now feel more confident because of what you shared with us."

"My biggest takeaway is the importance of listing both soft and technical skills. I did not realize how quickly these can determine whether someone is considered for a position."

The program's success is reflected in the number of Spark! alumni who have joined WWT as interns or full-time employees across ATC Labs, IT Corporate Services, Data Supply Chain and Digital Experience Quality Assurance. This year, four students mentored by RISE members became summer interns, including two returning for a second summer.

Why RISE ERG volunteers keep showing up

RISE ERG members continue to volunteer in these local programs because community outreach and STEM education matters at WWT, and because employees are personally invested in helping students succeed. Through coaching, mock interviews, career conversations and encouragement, they bring the company's commitment to improving community and educational outcomes to life in a practical, meaningful way.

"More than half of the Spark! Tech Solutions experience is led through authentic interactions with practicing professionals in coding-connected careers," said Drew McAllister, Program Director at Parkway Schools.

For some RISE volunteers, that connection to Spark! is even more personal. Matt Sauer, a Senior QA Engineer at WWT and member of the RISE ERG, went through the Parkway Spark! program himself as a high schooler and now mentors students in the same program.

"Having been in the Parkway Spark! program in high school, it's been so rewarding to come full circle and give back by mentoring students in the same program I participated in a 10+ years ago and seeing how that program has grown. I am so grateful for the opportunity to lead an initiative with the RISE ERG to create more career pathways like my own," said Sauer. 

Every hour a RISE volunteer spends with a Spark! student strengthens the technology talent pipeline, reinforces what community impact looks like in practice and gives a student who might not otherwise have early access to a tech career a genuine way in.