A tech giant is bringing virtual reality to St. Petersburg middle school students.
Accenture, which has a significant presence in its St. Pete-based office, is donating 40 Oculus VR headsets to six local schools in the region.
“It’s very often by the time students get to high school they picked their majors and potential careers,” said Ande Johnson, managing director at Accenture’s Tampa office. “Middle school is the sweet spot to really implore them to think of a career in tech, imagine what a job would look like and with this, it’s imagining jobs that don’t even exist yet.”
Roughly 400 students will have access to the headsets, which will allow them to dive into the virtual reality world right from the classroom.
“It’s meant to be incorporated into the education curriculum,” Johnson said. “If you’re learning about space, you can visit the Space Station. So, it’s giving the teachers the opportunity to think about how to pull it into the classroom.”
The schools, which include Shorecrest Middle School and Osceola Middle School, were partially chosen based on connections Accenture employees had — namely, if their children attended the middle schools and could make a connection to school leadership.
Osceola Middle School has a history, however, of adopting cutting-edge tech. Osceola Principal Solomon Lowery first began to push for a STEAM initiative, combining the more well-known STEM components with an art curriculum.
“We’re trying to address all interdisciplinary skills, to tie into academics and enrich project-based learning,” Lowery said. “[With the headsets], it’s one of those things when our students look back three, five, 10 years from now, this will be one of those staples they remember most fondly.”
It could also boost the ever-growing need for technology talent, particularly in quickly evolving spaces like virtual reality — all while remaining in the region.
“I love the city, and I want nothing more than to help inspire students to pick jobs in tech and stay in town,” Johnson said. “And now there are jobs, a network, and careers for them here that are exciting. It’s exciting to see the growth of Tampa as a tech hub, so we want to make sure they pick the careers and stay.”
