Grand Strand Technology Council marking its 10th year

The Grand Strand Technology Council, started 10 years ago to promote and grow technology in Horry and Georgetown counties, begins 2017 with a new nonprofit organizational status as a 501(c)(3) recognizing more emphasis on entrepreneur education and student technology education.

One of the council’s first special events of the new year is “Tech X” on Jan. 28 at the Conway campus of Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Jason Greene, president and executive director of the council, says Tech X is one aspect of the council’s new mission “to enhance local STEM education.” That’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Tech X will bring middle and high school students together “to introduce students at a younger age to the STEM field, to expose them to what’s needed in their education,” operations director Maria Yeremin says. Sometimes, students are turned off by STEM field careers simply because they lack information.

“Imagine if students started learning programming in sixth grade,” Greene says. “We believe [good job] opportunities can happen here in the Grand Strand.” Events such as Tech X “help us start this pipeline as soon as we can.”

In 2015 and 2016, Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation grants to the Technology Council provided purchase of equipment and software for Georgetown County students. The council is working on other grants to support a similar program in Horry County.

Greene and Yeremin are two of the council’s four staff members. Yeremin, whose Russian family immigrated to Detroit when she was 12 years old, joined the council in 2014, the year she graduated from Coastal Carolina University. Greene joined the council in 2015, as council founder Don Sander retired. He had started the organization as an all-volunteer business league, a chamber of commerce-type organization.

To promote and grow technology, the council has 56 events on its calendar for 2017. One of the regular events is “1 Million Cups” held the first Wednesday of every month at the GS Tech headquarters, 2999 Waccamaw Blvd., Myrtle Beach. The council moved to the location in April 2016. It was in the Litchfield Exchange, where the former council office is maintained as co-working space, where entrepreneurs may rent a desk. Today’s presentations are by Cost Projections, which calculates estimated medical costs of injured people, and DNSFilter, described as “a content filtering and threat protection service.”

DNSFilter also will be featured at the Entrepreneurial Explorers Luncheon on Jan. 11. Also on that program is “Sqrambled Scuares,” an online game show.

Another upcoming new event is “Grand Strand Tech Tour” Feb. 20-23. Greene says the tour is to promote business innovation and entrepreneurship and will feature Paul Singh, who advances “the idea that entrepreneurship can happen anywhere.” Which, of course, is what the Grand Strand Technology Council is about.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 10:43 PM with the headline "Grand Strand Technology Council marking its 10th year."