A Title 1 school is a public school that receives federal funding because it serves a high percentage of students from low-income families, as determined by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Title 1 schools and those who attend them are among those who need the most support in our community, especially when it comes to educational opportunities. Often, high quality STEM opportunities and experiences outside of the classroom are difficult to access for low-income families, whether it is because they are too expensive or because parents do not have the resources to transport students to these opportunities.
Our Lego STEM camps, which were just held for the second year in a row, aim to solve both of these problems for the Whittier Elementary School community by providing an interactive, engaging, and educational STEM opportunity for students at their own school, which they can walk and bike to as they would on a school day. It is such a privilege to be able to participate in FIRST robotics, and we love spreading to that to kids in the Treasure Valley. We’re especially excited that we’ve been able to do that at Whittier, a Title 1 school, for two years now. Teaching these students how to solve problems and think like an engineer through Spike Prime Legos was truly such a rewarding experience. Through five days of solving challenges themed to real world problems, summed up with a capstone project to come up with designs that aid in natural disaster damage prevention and control, we were able to connect with a lot of spectacular 3rd-6th graders.
Thank you so much to Whittier Elementary for allowing us to use this space and to Sonia Galaviz, without whom none of this could ever have happened. Go Bananas!
Building
Coding
Collaborating
Presenting
Competing
