Local teen helping give others a second chance

Sewickley Academy student designs website to help those previously incarcerated.

Sewickley Academy student designs website to help those previously incarcerated.

SEWICKLEY ACADEMY, A SEWICKLEY ACADEMY STUDENT TAKING TO THE SCREEN. AND HIS GOAL IS TO HELP THOSE PREVIOUSLY INCARCERATED FIND JOBS AS A TEENAGER ON A COMPUTER. NOTHING NEW, RIGHT? WELL, THIS TEEN, HE’S UTILIZING HIS TIME IN FRONT OF THE KEYBOARD MUCH DIFFERENTLY THAN THE AVERAGE 15 YEAR OLD. THERE’S A LOT OF PEOPLE EVERY YEAR MORE THAN 600,000 OF THEM GET RELEASED FROM PRISON. SO THAT’S YOU KNOW, EVERY YEAR THERE’S THAT MANY MORE THAT NEED TO FIND JOBS. IT’S A STATISTIC. SEBASTIAN TAN SAYS HELPED INSPIRE HIM TO CREATE THE OUTSIDE CONNECTION WEBSITE. THE SEWICKLEY ACADEMY SOPHOMORE SAYS THE SITE IS A NONPROFIT THAT DIRECTS PREVIOUSLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE SEEKING EMPLOYMENT TO COMPANIES THAT WILL HIRE THEM. PRETTY MUCH ALL MY LIFE I’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN MY FAMILY’S BUSINESS, AND FOR OVER 20 YEARS WE’VE HIRED PREVIOUSLY INCARCERATED PEOPLE, HE SAYS. THE SITE WAS LAUNCHED IN MARCH AFTER HE WENT TO THE DRAWING BOARD WITH SOME OF THE KEY TOOLS. HE LEARNED IN HIS COMPUTER SCIENCE CLASS. I’VE HAD THE IDEA FOR QUITE A WHILE, BUT I THINK I STARTED IT OVER SPRING BREAK AND THAT WAS REALLY BECAUSE OF MY COMPUTER SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE THAT I’VE LEARNED HERE, AND THAT WAS VERY HELPFUL IN CREATING IT. WE WERE VERY PROUD OF HIM. I MEAN, ACTUALLY JUST FEELS GOOD THAT HE CAN TAKE WHAT HE’S LEARNED HERE AND APPLY IT TO SOMETHING THAT HE’S PASSIONATE ABOUT. APPLYING HIS LESSONS IN THE CLASSROOM AND GUIDANCE FROM ADVISORS. I THINK THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE LIKE THE STIGMA THAT PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE TO JAIL OR BAD PEOPLE AND AND MY OPINION, IT’S JUST PEOPLE WHO HAVE GOTTEN MIXED UP IN THE WRONG TYPES OF THINGS HAVE MADE MISTAKES. AND, YOU KNOW, 20 YEARS LATER, TEN YEARS LATER, IT’S A TOTALLY DIFFERENT STORY TO PURSUE. HIS PASSION TO HELP OTHERS HAVE A HAPPY ENDING TO THEIR STORY, MAKING HIM A COMMUNITY CHAMPION. WE SHOULDN’T, YOU KNOW, CRITICIZE THOSE PEOPLE FOR THEIR PAST. SEBASTIAN JUST RECENTLY PRESENTED AT THE ALLEGHENY COUNTY REENTRY COALITION SUMMIT. HE SAYS THAT HE HOPES TO EXPAND HIS PLATFORM ONE DAY TO CITIES OUTSIDE OF PITTSBURGH FROM SEWICKLE

Local teen helping give others a second chance

Sewickley Academy student designs website to help those previously incarcerated.

A 15-year-old has taken what he’s learned in the classroom to create a way to help those previously incarcerated with their reentry process. Sewickley Academy sophomore, Sebastian Tan has a leadership role at his family’s bakery in the Strip District where they’ve hired several previously incarcerated people over the past two decades. “I’ve been able to work side-by-side with them and sort of get to know them, their background and their stories and it’s been inspiring to start something like this,” Tan told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4. “A lot of them coming out of prison want to find jobs that are well paying, suitable for them.”Which is why Tan created the website: OutsideConnection. It’s goal is to easily direct those previously incarcerated to companies that will hire them, regardless of their records. ”I have to research which companies will actually hire certain offenses; many companies make that public. Some will hire federal level, state level or local level offenses, others may not,” said Tan. Tan started the non-profit back in March after learning how to design it in his computer science class at Sewickley Academy but the idea of the website is something he’s had for a while."I’ve been in computer science here at Sewickley Academy and it’s been pretty instrumental in learning about computer science and design as a whole. So that’s really helped when setting up the site, knowing where things go, what to do and exactly how I want to structure everything.""He’s been a go-getter, kind of a heart of gold kid, so I’m not surprised that we can add this to his long list of accomplishments," said Benjamin Spicer, a teacher at Sewickley who is also an advisor to Tan. "We’re very proud of him. It actually just feels good that he can take what he’s learned here and apply it to something he’s passionate about." Tan adds he's going to work on partnerships with the county and state in hopes of expanding the company to cities outside of Pittsburgh one day.

SEWICKLEY, Pa. —

A 15-year-old has taken what he’s learned in the classroom to create a way to help those previously incarcerated with their reentry process.

Sewickley Academy sophomore, Sebastian Tan has a leadership role at his family’s bakery in the Strip District where they’ve hired several previously incarcerated people over the past two decades.

“I’ve been able to work side-by-side with them and sort of get to know them, their background and their stories and it’s been inspiring to start something like this,” Tan told Pittsburgh’s Action News 4. “A lot of them coming out of prison want to find jobs that are well paying, suitable for them.”

Which is why Tan created the website: OutsideConnection. It’s goal is to easily direct those previously incarcerated to companies that will hire them, regardless of their records.

”I have to research which companies will actually hire certain offenses; many companies make that public. Some will hire federal level, state level or local level offenses, others may not,” said Tan.

Tan started the non-profit back in March after learning how to design it in his computer science class at Sewickley Academy but the idea of the website is something he’s had for a while.

"I’ve been in computer science here at Sewickley Academy and it’s been pretty instrumental in learning about computer science and design as a whole. So that’s really helped when setting up the site, knowing where things go, what to do and exactly how I want to structure everything."

"He’s been a go-getter, kind of a heart of gold kid, so I’m not surprised that we can add this to his long list of accomplishments," said Benjamin Spicer, a teacher at Sewickley who is also an advisor to Tan. "We’re very proud of him. It actually just feels good that he can take what he’s learned here and apply it to something he’s passionate about."

Tan adds he's going to work on partnerships with the county and state in hopes of expanding the company to cities outside of Pittsburgh one day.

Local teen helping give others a second chance

Sewickley Academy student designs website to help those previously incarcerated.

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