Arrow Helps Students Learn Innovation through Technology Education, Competitions

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Arrow Electronics firmly believes that innovation is a skill set that can be taught. And that’s why we actively partner with technology-education organizations and competitions that inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Our goal is to encourage students of all ages to find the innovator inside themselves by looking Five Years Out. 

A few examples of technology-education programs that Arrow proudly supports include: 
 

• MOUSE – Mouse is a national youth-development nonprofit that believes in technology as a force for good. In partnership with Arrow and others, Mouse is exploring how to use smart fabrics and e-textiles as part of its STEM programming for middle- and high-school students. These students not only create and program very cool “wearables,” they acquire computational, geometric and analytical skills that help them master spatial reasoning, design thinking and pattern recognition. 
   
• FIRST Robotics – FIRST competitions teach students how to be innovators as well as collaborators. Arrow Electronics is again teaming with the Denver Broncos’ Tackle STEM initiative to sponsor this year’s Colorado FIRST Robotics competition, which reaches more than 4,000 kids in grades K-12. This video explains how the program opens students’ eyes to STEM careers by showing them the value of technology innovation.  
   
• Collegiate Inventors – In 2017 Arrow will again sponsor the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a nationwide showcase of emerging student ideas and technologies that will shape society and may be patented. This competition is run by Invent Now and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. An annual event since 1990, Collegiate Inventors recognizes and rewards the innovation, discoveries and research by university students and their advisors.  
   
• Cardboard Challenge – Later this year Arrow will again sponsor the Cherry Creek School District’s Cardboard Engineering Challenge. This Imagination Foundation event asks students to use the free materials they find all around them and convert their ideas into something practical. Last year more than 500 students participated in the event, including some very special kids from the Tuleeni Orphanage in Tanzania, who participated via an internet connection made possible by the Arrow DigiTruck. 

“By teaching innovation, we are fueling the next generation of inventors and thought leaders,” says Joe Verrengia, director of Arrow’s Corporate Social Responsibility program. “Arrow enthusiastically supports educational initiatives like these because they help cultivate the technology leaders of tomorrow.”  

About Arrow Electronics
Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 125,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 465 locations serving over 90 countries. Learn more at www.fiveyearsout.com