ST PAUL, Minn. — At an assembly just weeks before summer, Highland Park Senior High School students shared highlights from a spring internship with Twin Cities company Aeterna Media.
During advisory hour, its tech professionals came to the school to teach the students not only how to make a non-fungible token (NFT), but how to use it for good.
"Every time it sells, you can put in a smart contract," founder Tayo Daniel said. "It's a contract that's attached to the NFT, where every time it sells, a certain percentage of that sale goes toward whatever project, community project, social project that it's attached to."
The students made an NFT for Minnesota Timberwolves players Josh Okogie and Jarred Vanderbilt. While Vanderbilt joined virtually, Okogie was there in person to meet students during the assembly, which was purposely held on the second anniversary of George Floyd's murder.
"It's wild just to see these kids be able to give something like that," Okogie said. "It just shows the potential that these kids have … It's going to be a lot more things that's coming in this world that these kids have to be prepared for, and I feel in a lot of black communities we're very underserved when it comes to everything, but especially in the tech field."
While it's unknown where the NFT will end up and how much money it may make, Daniel says proceeds will go toward building a community technology hub in the George Floyd Square community.
"What I've always said, technology doesn't have a conscious," he said. "It's the people who operate it that do."
Right now, a still image represents the NFT gifted to the Wolves players. Junior Thilji Mathew says he plans to tackle a 3D version over the summer.