Dev Catalyst Alumni Spotlight: Steven Prescott, SP Creative

Steven Prescott is a standout alumnus of Dev Catalyst. Prescott began the program in 2013 under Vicki Deloach’s computer class at Madison Academic Magnet High School. The program was new to both West Tennessee and Prescott, but the product of a semester of work would lead to lifelong impacts. 

Dev Catalyst was a brainchild of the founders at theCO who noticed a need for educational development.

For Prescott, Dev Catalyst created friendships and freedom.

Now entering his second year at Austin Peay State University, he completed his freshman year as an honors student all while managing his web development company, SP Creative. Dev Catalyst brought Prescott a chance to see a world of possibilities where he could create his own future. 

“[At] SP Creative, we do a few things: we do graphic design, we do simple websites . . . we make web applications that are a little more intense,” Prescott explained. “We work with a lot of different languages to try to get people the services that they need that are kind of personalized for them. We try to address everybody’s unique way.”

“Steven was among the first group of students to experience Dev Catalyst and go on our San Francisco Tech Tour trip,” Molly Plyler, theCO’s Educational Outreach Coordinator, said. “It is an honor to be part of his technical learning journey for what promises to be a very successful career as an entrepreneur and developer.”

Prescott credits the organization for helping to nurture relationships that contribute to his life as a tech entrepreneur. The program prepared him most of all to be able to tackle his degree.

“I took some type of web development class [at Austin Peay], and I remember thinking, ‘This is nothing. I've done this before!’” Prescott explained.

Korey Adams, classmate of Prescott at Madison, explained what sets his friend apart:

“His core characteristics is persistence. And that’s probably helping him a lot now. From the time I have known him he’s not really one to give up on anything. He’s the type to do whatever necessary to accomplish his goals.” 

When asked about the future work that he would be interested in accomplishing, Prescott explained that he wanted to impact the world socially, citing Ben Harris of POPVOX and change.org as inspirations.

“The Dev Catalyst program is starting it's fifth year,” Plyler explained. “Our goal was always to grow and cultivate the raw tech talent we knew students possessed. But to see how many students have thrived and discovered their future career path is breathtaking.”

Make sure to also listen to an Our Jackson Home podcast with Prescott, Plyler, and teacher Kimberly Colbert.