Coinbase held an event with the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation for 50 minority students eager to learn about the growing blockchain and Web3 industries.
The whole idea behind cryptocurrency is that anyone can claim their stake in it. That’s why Coinbase and the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation teamed up to make sure younger generations can take advantage.
Aligned with Coinbase’s goal of becoming more present in K-12 mediums, the crypto exchange company hosted a crypto literacy program at the Durant Center in Maryland on Friday, May 6. Coinbase employees led the educational event, introducing 50 minority high school students to the world of crypto technology through workshops. Participating students learned about crypto wallets, minting NFTs, gamification in the metaverse, and more.
The event came as part of Coinbase’s partnership with 35V that extends to the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation. KDCF impacts thousands of kids through various programs, including a partnership with College Track at the Durant Center currently serving 230 students. The foundation made a 10-year commitment to support kids in its College Track program beginning with their first year of high school and lasting through college graduation.
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But even if Coinbase had an entire week to spend at the Durant Center, it could not cover the entire blockchain world, according to Drew Pendleton, a senior global trainer on Coinbase’s crypto team. Pendleton’s primary goal of the day was to help instill some excitement in students and get them thinking more about how they can fit into Web3 and potentially a future career in the industry,
“I think the cryptocurrency and the innovation of technology is the future,” Pendleton told Boardroom. “The younger generations are the ones who are going to be shaping the future and creating more of this stuff. Getting them involved is important.”
Brian Rowe, a global trainer on Coinbase’s crypto team, led an introductory session on crypto wallets and taught students about how to make safe purchases in the crypto space. Rowe hopes students walked away with the simple knowledge of how to set up a crypto wallet and mint NFTs out of the digital art they are already creating.
“It’s about giving the opportunity to help enrich the knowledge, passion, and drive for this future-oriented area,” Rowe said. “There is explosive growth all around it, and it’s something I wish was available to me when I was a kid growing up.”
As with Web3, even learning about crypto is decentralized, as no one entity controls the flow of information about it. The Coinbase team emphasized to the students the importance of learning from reliable sources.
The event concluded with a friendly crypto-themed Jeopardy-style competition. The students’ competitive engagement showed how eager they were to showcase their new knowledge.
“We want our students to be able to ask questions in a safe space and expose them to a new industry full of many career opportunities and to new technologies that they may already be interacting with,” said Jose Mena, Director of the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation. “This was our first effort to bring crypto literacy programming to young men and women of College Track at Durant Center, and we hope to build on this experience.”
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