A new partnership between BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University allows students to receive tuition-free bachelor’s degrees in computer science and a job offer upon graduation
When Brooke Acevedo was a high school senior, she thought the promise from BlueSky Tennessee Institute was too good to be true: If she completed a 27-month bachelor’s degree in computer science—at no cost to her—she would get a job offer from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
She gave it a shot. Acevedo earned her diploma in December and recently started a job in information technology at the health insurance company. Without this free college degree, she says, “Who knows how much debt I’d be in?”
Acevedo, a 21-year-old in Chattanooga, is part of the first cohort graduating from a novel initiative that seeks to help students discover their computing abilities and create a diverse pipeline of IT workers. Like many companies, BlueCross BlueShield Tennessee has a growing need for staff with technology skills and can’t find enough experienced candidates to fill open roles. The company says it must often spend more than nine months training new hires.
So the company decided to collaborate. In 2019, BlueCross BlueShield Tennessee put out a request for proposals for an education partner that could align courses to the company’s needs for IT, data management and cybersecurity staff, so students could graduate ready to join its workforce. East Tennessee State University answered the call.
The healthcare company made a significant upfront commitment to get the program started. Several community foundations joined the BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Foundation to support scholarships that ensure students in the first three cohorts have their full tuition needs met. The university also offers institutional scholarships for eligible BlueSky students, who live at home while studying.
BlueSky has taken an inventive approach to recruiting students: it has organized an annual Game Design Challenge, held in collaboration with the local Public Education Foundation. High schools across Hamilton County—including “high priority” schools serving many low-income students—send teams of eight to 10 students to the annual coding event, where the students design a video game in a day. They also get an information session on BlueSky.
“Most students have no prior exposure to computing,” says Bradley Leon, executive director of BlueSky Tennessee Institute. “We believe there are kids in our highest priority schools that can learn this set of skills. We wanted to help them achieve their goals.”
Once admitted into the program, BlueSky students meet at BlueCross BlueShield Tennessee’s Chattanooga headquarters to take online courses in computer science, English, history and other requirements, with support from in-person instructors and program staff. Outside of classes, students rotate through paid internships in the company’s IT division—which helps to build a sense of camaraderie. Those who struggle have access to tutoring and counseling.
Days are long and there are no summers off, and for Acevedo, the biggest challenge was learning to be more independent. At first, she lacked confidence and felt a sense of imposter syndrome. A professor reminded her: “You need to figure things out yourself because in the workforce you won't have people to explain all the time.” Acevedo took the advice to heart. “Slowly but surely, I learned to try things out for myself instead of relying on other people,” She says. “I started to have more trust in myself and my abilities.”
The 28 BlueSky students from the first class finished in December, including one international student. All 27 BlueSky pioneers who are now eligible to work in the U.S. have accepted a job offer with BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. BlueSky officials say they are thrilled with this yield.
Those graduates include Joey Whitmire, whose BlueSky experience included paid internships in project management, testing chatbots and data transfers from third-party vendors. He’s now been hired as an associate project manager at BlueCross BlueShield Tennessee.
Having both classes and internships at the company’s headquarters pays off for students, he says. “We’ve built connections not only with each other but with its employees,” he says. “This is such a big company with so many people; the network I built is incredible.”
The BlueSky program is growing and now has 90 young people enrolled across three cohorts. Participants don’t have to commit to joining the company after graduation, but program organizers hope the choice will be a natural one. “If we’re working with students for 27 months and at the end of all that they don’t want to work for us, we’re doing something wrong,” says Leon.
This article is part of a series featuring winners of Profiles in Collective Leadership, an initiative by Carnegie Corporation of New York in partnership with the nonprofit Transcend, that recognizes outstanding local partnerships that educate youth, bolster the workforce, and demonstrate the power of working together. The 10 nonpartisan collaborations in urban, suburban, and rural areas across the country draw on the strengths of local government, education, nonprofit, business, and health care professionals to catalyze socioeconomic mobility and civic engagement in their communities. The 10 recognized partnerships in eight states have been awarded $200,000 grants and will act as exemplars, sharing what they have learned with each other and more broadly.
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