Yext Leaders Give Back to Thomas Jefferson High School in Support of STEM Education
NEW YORK, May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext, a leading provider of location data management technology, today announced a donation to the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County, Virginia. The school (affectionately referred to by students and alumni as "TJ") is renowned for its extensive curriculum — which emphasizes science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) — and has consistently been ranked the #1 high school in the country. Yext's gift supports the "Yext Computer Systems Lab," where senior students are given the opportunity to conduct independent study in computer systems and software. The donation will allow the school to obtain specialized research equipment for the lab and support other unique student learning opportunities. Boasting university-caliber research equipment and resources, TJ's Research Labs are one of the school's key differentiators, and solidify the school's status as a top STEM institution.
Yext traces its own beginnings back to TJ, where Yext CEO Howard Lerman met founding Yext members Brent Metz, Tom Dixon, COO, Sean MacIsaac, CTO, Alok Bhushan, EVP of Finance, and Kevin Caffrey, Principal Engineer. They credit the school's STEM-focused education as the source of their early passion for technology, which has led to their success as entrepreneurs.
Support for STEM education in the United States is critical, as jobs in related fields are essential to innovation and economic progress. Though opportunities in STEM-related jobs are increasing at an unprecedented rate, the amount of students graduating with STEM degrees remains stagnant. Staffing firm Adecco USA has predicted that by 2018, there will be as many as 2.4 million job vacancies in these most influential occupations.1 This will not just hurt the country's economy, but workers themselves, as people who hold STEM degrees tend to earn about 26 percent more than their non-STEM counterparts.2
"My time at Thomas Jefferson was the most formative of my life," says Lerman. "This school gave me everything. It gave me friends, co-founders of my company, and permission to be a little different. We're proud to donate a computer systems lab that will inspire the next generation of brilliant minds, and show TJ students that with a STEM education, anything is possible."
In addition to this monetary gift, members of Yext's executive team donate time to special school initiatives and programs, and serve as mentors at the annual HackTJ and tjSTAR events. Yext also hosts a special event each year for TJ students and alumni at the company's headquarters in New York City.
Visit the Yext website to learn more about career opportunities at Yext.
About Yext
Yext is the global location data management leader, and our mission is to help people go places. The award-winning Yext Location Management Platform enables companies of all sizes to manage location data across their websites, mobile apps, internal systems, and the industry's largest ecosystem of maps, apps, social networks, directories, and search engines including Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo. Our products—PowerListings®, Pages, and Xone™—enable the world's 50 million businesses to drive face-to-face and digital interactions that boost brand awareness, drive foot traffic, and increase sales.
Based in the heart of New York City with a growing team of over 500 employees worldwide, Yext has been recognized as one of America's fastest growing companies by the Inc. 500 (#212 in 2015), one of Forbes Most Promising Companies (2014 & 2015) and one of Fortune's Best Places to Work (2014 & 2015). Learn more about how we help people go places at www.yext.com.
Sources:
- Adecco USA, Stem Skills Drive Innovation, 2016
- US Department of Commerce, STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future, 2011
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