Southwire Empowers 200 HBCU Students at South by Southwest Conference and Festival 

Feb 22, 2019

As part of our continued commitment to diversity, Southwire will return to the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference and Festival as a proud sponsor of Opportunity Hub’s (OHUB) flagship HBCU@SXSW program.  

HBCU@SXSW provides early exposure and recruitment initiatives for African American and LatinX college students and will take place March 8 through 11 in Austin, Texas. This four-day experience aims to help expose more students to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) focused career opportunities and provides invaluable access to experts in several tech-related industries. As part of this partnership, Southwire will have the ability to connect with over 200 students representing historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU), Hispanic serving institutions (HSI) and other supporting institutions.  

This year, Southwire will co-sponsor the event among companies like Chick-fil-A, Mailchimp, Delta, Google and Facebook. The lineup of events will include 50 expert speakers, 12 dedicated recruitment events and 1-on-1 time between student and recruiters.  

Our goal is to use this opportunity to expose students to technology and business-related career opportunities within the manufacturing technology industry.  

During the HBCU@SXSW experience, Southwire will host a breakfast and panel discussion meant to challenge students to explore career opportunities beyond the brand and to highlight dynamic careers in manufacturing. The panel discussion will be led by Burt Fealing, Southwire’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, and will include several other Southwire employees, including Will Kent, Director of International Sales Operations and NextGen ERG Team Member; and Veronica Powell, Manager of Engineering and Maintenance & Spectrum ERG team member.  

In addition to the numerous activities that Southwire will be participating in and leading, we are excited to celebrate three of our Southwire Engineering Co-Ops – DeVohn White, Mechanical Engineer from The University of Texas at Austin; Jamel Thompson, Industrial Engineer from Georgia Institute of Technology; and Raymond Rosas Flores, Mechanical Engineer from North Carolina State University – who were awarded scholarships from Opportunity Hub to take part in the 2019 HBCU@SXSW student experience.  The attending Southwire Co-Ops will also be invited to join the panel discussion.    

If you are a student looking for a career-shaping internship or co-op opportunity or are looking to work at a company that supports the community and invests in the next generation, visit our Careers Page at careers.southwire.com. We’re always hiring, and we’d love to hear from you. 

For more Southwire news, stay tuned to southwire.com/newsroom.

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