Jay and Mick Larson

DCDS Alumni, Jay Larson '03 and Mick Larson '04, co-founded Tunapanda Institute, a non-profit organization that spreads education related to tech, design, entrepreneurship and digital storytelling in low-income parts of East Africa. The organization builds open source software, creates open content and runs a technology training school in the outskirts of Kibera - a large Nairobi slum.

The goal is to enable as many people as possible to use their voice in the digital world and solve both local and global problems through technology.

You can see some clips the school and learn about a project they hope to fund/deploy in 2015 in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw6-omOb20M

Their advice to DCDS students: be creative, don't believe everything your teachers/parents tell you (but don't be rude about it), argue (but don't be rude) learn about technology and explore the world as much as possible before settling into a career, family, etc. If you want to take a gap year and can afford it, do it. University will wait - you'll appreciate it more if you explore the world and broaden your horizons first. There's a lot of work to be done in the US, but experiencing other countries/cultures is priceless.

Also: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life." - Confucius

Total hours of service
Full-time: 60+ hrs/wk each