Richard
Snyder, ’65, received the 2005 Walter Service to Society Award.
Snyder, who graduated from Lawrence with a degree in mathematics, rose to become executive vice president of Cognex, a world-renowned high-tech computing company in Massachusetts, before turning his attention to becoming “a meaningful volunteer.” Inspired by a trip to Japan, in 1997, he left the corporate world for a volunteer position with a Boston day-care service. In a project dubbed “Windows to the World,” he began placing computers in day-care centers that served low-income, single-family homes, so that children would have an opportunity to benefit from the technology before entering school.
A year later, he joined the Boston Public School system to work with its TechBoston program, an initiative designed to bridge the digital divide between rich and poor communities by teaching technical skills to help students who cannot afford to or choose not to attend college prepare for possible careers in high-tech industries.
Two years after Snyder became involved in the project, TechBoston’s enrollment grew from ten students to 1,500 who were taking classes in 22 Boston high schools and middle schools. In 2002, in response to a slow-down in the tech industry, Snyder created a separate company out of the program — TechBoston Consulting Group — to employ students to work on Web development and networking projects for Massachusetts businesses and non-profit organizations. In its first two years, TCG generated $130,000 in revenue. Today, the program is used as a model for school districts around the country.
Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2005