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Robotics and STEM Education is something I have long been passionate about. For close to 20 years I've been involved as a coach, teacher, curriculum writer, and event host. I've even been recognized nationally as a VEX Teacher of the Year and Miami-Dade SECME Teacher of the Year.
When my son was born, I took a step back. Raising a young man is a full-time, full contact sport and these first four years between diapers, COVID, and tantrums, has certainly been a whirlwind. But now that my son is older, and diapers have turned into play dates and community activities, I've found myself searching for opportunities for my son to engage with STEM in a hands-on way not only at home, but in group settings.
The opportunities are there. STEM summer camps, special event days, and private STEM teams seem to be all the rage. Too often though these activities either exclude students in early elementary or are only found in communities that are more affluent or benefit from better advocacy than ours.
We live in Hialeah, Florida, located in Northwest Miami-Dade and the 6th largest city in the State of of Florida. I'm proud to say I've grown up and chosen to raise my son in "La Ciudad Que Progressa" or "The City of Progress". This beautiful, hard working city which at 94.0% has the second highest percentage of Hispanic residents of any US city outside of Puerto Rico and which has the highest percentage of Cuban and Cuban-American citizens (73.4%) anywhere in the country is unique but often overlooked. Nothing brought this into sharper focus, then my early attempts at finding the kind of enrichment opportunities I wanted for my son and which I knew could be found elsewhere in Miami.
The city has a stupendous park system, but their sports and theatre programs don't begin until age 6. The best source of programming for younger kids comes from the Hialeah Public Library system which offers bilingual programming for toddler to adults. But while story hour, craft time, and theatrical performances could all be easily found in their summer offerings, I found little reference to interactive, participatory, and ongoing STEM activities of the kind I was looking for.
I've run activities like this in the past as part of my work and had the volunteers to run it but a robotics program needs robots and a place to meet. Thankfully, The Awesome Foundation exists! Every month, this absolutely amazing non-profit helps fund small community projects that would be impossible without their support. If you haven't heard of them or aren't familiar with their mission, please check them out and show your support.
Thanks to their support, we've been able to purchase a class set of VEX 123 robots to be used in "123 Robotics" classes in the City of Hialeah. Young residents of the city and those in surrounding municipalities will now have the opportunity to be exposed to robotics and a collaborative STEM environment regardless of their socioeconomic background.
This no-cost, bilingual class will take place weekly at Hialeah's JFK Public Library during the month of July and biweekly during the months of August and September. I am excited to head this fantastic project and look forward to the opportunity to share robotics with my community moving forward.