The first Data Science for All / Empowerment cohort of 500 Fellows kicked off this Saturday, and we were blown away by the energy and enthusiasm of this class.
Here are some of our favorite moments from the kick-off event, and a sneak-peek into our class Slack channel that has blown-up since launching one week ago.
1. Firstly, we are so proud that this is the most diverse group of data science professionals ever assembled!
The 500 fellows in this first cohort were selected on merit from an extremely selective applicant pool of 8,500+ candidates.
2. We were inspired and moved by Sheena Iyengar's opening keynote speech, titled 'How To Dream', about how to create, pursue, and fulfill your life dreams.
Sheena Iyengar is a best-selling author of "The Art of Choosing", TED speaker, and S.T. Lee Professor of Business, Columbia Business School, and Senior Advisor at Correlation One .
3. The DS4A community is here to support and raise each other up.
Student-led channels created include: #extra-help, #gas-me-up, #datanewbies, #study-group, #tech-or-code-newbies, #african-americans-data-science, #blackgirlmagic, #hbcu, #hatians, #latinx, #military, #pride, #parents, #women-in-tech and the list keeps growing!
4. And we are here to network!
We are in for a ride over the next 12 weeks of the program and can't wait to see what this incredible cohort achieve!