By Mac-Arthur Louis, adjunct professor, Robotics Coach VEX Team# 2538A,
and Taunya Hannibal-Williams, ODEI community outreach specialist
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’s (ODEI) STEM Outreach Workshop Initiative (SOWI) provides a platform for underrepresented minority students to “Discover their Choices in STEM” by using Robotics.
Coming off an award-winning 2020 SOWI Summer Camp, students from several middle and high schools throughout the Capital District learned the Python programming language. Post-participant surveys revealed the desire to initiate a Robotics program during the school year on Saturdays.
In Fall 2020, students began learning the basics of object-oriented programming. The Saturday workshops allowed participants to enhance their critical thinking, use problem-solving and collaborative skills to design, code, and debug Python programs leading up to an in-house tournament. They gained all the skills needed to compete in an international future engineer’s competition and VEX Robotics competition in March 2021.
Students voted to name their team “Pro Coders,” designed a team logo and signed up for the Pro division in the Northeast bracket. The Pro Coders competed with 27 other teams from several countries in the Line of Mars and the Battery Raid challenges. In the end, Pro Coders ranked 14th place.
Special thanks to the VEX coaches and parents/legal guardians for their support. The team members are eager to return for an on-campus robotics competition and to continue learning advanced programming in other languages.
If you would like to donate to help expand SOWI to include more participants, visit Make a Gift | HVCC and select ODEI STEM Outreach Fund in the “designation” box.
Please also join us on social media to cheer on the Pro Coders! https://www.facebook.com/HVCCODEI
#HVCCSTEM4All
Published: Tue, 20 Apr 2021 11:55:56 +0000 by t.hannibalwillia