{"id":334864,"date":"2025-10-26T23:35:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/334864\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T23:35:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T23:35:06","slug":"4-alabama-state-students-headed-to-houston-for-afrotech-after-raising-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/334864\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Alabama State students headed to Houston for AfroTech after raising funds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">MONTGOMERY, Ala. (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"http:\/\/www.wsfa.com\">WSFA<\/a>) &#8211; A group of Alabama State University students is heading to Houston for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They\u2019re attending <a href=\"https:\/\/afrotechconference.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/afrotechconference.com\/\">AfroTech 2025<\/a>, one of the largest conferences in the country celebrating Black excellence in technology and innovation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Four Alabama State students are leaving at midnight for Houston, but the excitement is already building. They tell WSFA AfroTech 2025 isn\u2019t just a conference; it\u2019s an opportunity to change their lives. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cAs a graduating senior, I am looking for open employment. So, hopefully I\u2019ll go and leave with a job,\u201d said Makaylah Harris, one of the lucky students attending the conference. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">It all started when senior Makaylah Harris learned about AfroTech. A national gathering where some of the biggest names in technology, like Amazon, Apple, and Google, recruit and mentor the next generation of innovators. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Harris says when she realized how costly the trip could be, she launched a GoFundMe and started reaching out for help. \u201cAnd we actually got a lot of no\u2019s,\u201d Harris explained. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">However, that did not stop her. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Through her persistence and advocacy, Makaylah secured Premier Passes worth $3,500 directly from AfroTech organizers, giving her and three other students full access to workshops, networking events, and career sessions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cSo, there\u2019s even like panels, where you can go get certifications within the week you are there. So, it\u2019s just a space where people in tech go to really get exposure and really just, you know, experience the life of tech,\u201d said Emmanuel Hayes, another student who is attending. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">They say this trip is about more than travel. It\u2019s about access, representation, and proving what\u2019s possible. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cOur ultimate goal for Hornets in Tech was to leverage students\u2019 opportunities and gain insights in the tech industry and different tech trends. This is part of our ultimate goal and part of our legacy we plan to leave at Alabama State,\u201d said Harris. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">While their conference passes are covered, the group is still trying to raise $4,000 to cover housing, meals, and transportation to Houston. You can help by donating to her GoFundMe, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-get-to-afrotech-2025-in-houston?attribution_id=sl:224f7f32-c9f9-48d3-ae51-5dbb4dfa5478&amp;lang=en_US&amp;ts=1761066714&amp;utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&amp;utm_content=amp17_control&amp;utm_medium=customer&amp;utm_source=copy_link\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-us-get-to-afrotech-2025-in-houston?attribution_id=sl:224f7f32-c9f9-48d3-ae51-5dbb4dfa5478&amp;lang=en_US&amp;ts=1761066714&amp;utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&amp;utm_content=amp17_control&amp;utm_medium=customer&amp;utm_source=copy_link\"><b>here<\/b><\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The students tell WSFA they plan to bring what they learned at AfroTech back to the community and hopefully create a pipeline for other students to attend in the future. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | text-start article-text\">Not reading this story on the WSFA News App? Get news alerts FASTER and FREE in the <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/wsfa-12-news\/id449733109\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Apple App Store<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.raycom.wsfa&amp;hl=en_US&amp;gl=US\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google Play Store<\/a>! <\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright |\">Copyright 2025 WSFA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) &#8211; A group of Alabama State University students is heading to Houston for a once-in-a-lifetime&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":334865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[165779,23327,67231,4345,26979,9631,159,358,3187,53737,53736,65359],"class_list":{"0":"post-334864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-afrotech","9":"tag-alabama-state","10":"tag-asu","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-montgomery","13":"tag-montgomery-county","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-tx","17":"tag-wfsa","18":"tag-wsfa","19":"tag-wsfa-12-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115443094172289977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}