Posse Alum Builds Digital Programs, Equitable Access at PBS Kids

Corinne Dey, a Posse alumna of Sewanee: University of the South, is now a senior engineer at PBS Kids who builds digital programs with an emphasis on equitable access for all children.

Corinne grew up in the D.C. area in Fairfax, Virginia, and Silver Spring, Maryland.

“When I was 11, we lost our home and were homeless for a time. Thankfully, through the hardships I had powerful female role models (including my father),” she says, noting that her parents divorced when she was young and her father underwent a gender transition. "My mother, grandmother and father taught me perseverance.”

“The biggest takeaway I have from college is that your community is crucial.”

Corinne eventually learned about Posse from her high school counselor, Ms. Moore, and was immediately drawn to the program’s emphasis on leadership and diversity.

“I was planning on going to community college then transferring to UMD like my older brother, and racking up student loans,” she says. “I will never forget the day I got that phone call. I had done it. I got the scholarship! I had once been a little girl without a home and now I was a Scholar.”

In her college coursework at Sewanee, Corinne first translated a childhood goal to become an astronaut into a focus on physical sciences. But when she took a computer science class junior year, she was hooked.

“At Sewanee, most students get degrees in English or history, not computer science, math, and physics like I did,” Corinne says.

“I feel like my development is making an immediate and positive impact on my users.”

She became one of four students in her graduating class with a major in computer science, one of just two who completed the major as a Bachelor of Science degree. At the time, Corinne was the first woman to receive such a degree from Sewanee in 11 years.

“The biggest takeaway I have from college is that your community is crucial,” she says, acknowledging particular support from Posse and her Scholar peers.

Now at PBS, Corinne’s work on the digital programming development team provides children with comprehensive access to high quality educational content.

“As a child from a low-income household myself, I grew up on PBS Kids,” she says. “I finally feel like my development is making an immediate and positive impact on my users.”

“Being a part of Posse always inspired me to become a leader.”

The PBS Kids network has seen a more than 300 percent increase in traffic since COVID-19 quarantines began, according to Corinne, and the engineers’ work has become even more focused on access.

“Not everyone has their own brand-new MacBook Pro,” she points out, “so making sure that our apps, videos and games perform just as well on an outdated iPhone 5 is significant in fighting for educational equality.”

Prior to her work with PBS, Corinne built digital materials for over a billion daily readers at The Washington Post.

“I was able to follow a path not many have taken because of the support I received while on that journey,” she says of her choice to pursue computer science. “Being a part of Posse always inspired me to become a leader.”