I was talking with a few of my friends at a recent charity event for Big Brothers, Big Sisters here in GBG (http://www.bbbslr.org), and it came to light that a bunch of the kids in the program ("littles" in the vernacular) are, predictably, really interested in computers and video games. It was stressed that for many of these kids, the very idea that career paths like ours exist is really inaccessible. They don't have much, if any, exposure to adults that work in professional fields (especially STEM folks).
I showed them projects like Hackity-Hack and Try Ruby and Kids Ruby and they were blown away. Since the event, we've been talking about hosting a demo day for both bigs and littles. It's pretty vague right now, but the basic idea would be to round up some laptops and set them up for a day- or afternoon-long workshop with a few presentations/exercises geared at introducing the kids to the kind of cool stuff we get to do everyday.
I'm reaching out to see if anyone would be interested in volunteering to help put something like this together. I've got my shop (http://carney.co) on board; we'll be hosting the event, however it shapes up. We're starting small and are still very much in the idea stage, so any input you guys have is very much appreciated.
On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 6:00 PM, Jeremy Flores <jeremy.flo...@gmail.com> wrote: > Heyo,
> I was talking with a few of my friends at a recent charity event for Big > Brothers, Big Sisters here in GBG (http://www.bbbslr.org), and it came to > light that a bunch of the kids in the program ("littles" in the vernacular) > are, predictably, really interested in computers and video games. It was > stressed that for many of these kids, the very idea that career paths like > ours exist is really inaccessible. They don't have much, if any, exposure to > adults that work in professional fields (especially STEM folks).
> I showed them projects like Hackity-Hack and Try Ruby and Kids Ruby and they > were blown away. Since the event, we've been talking about hosting a demo > day for both bigs and littles. It's pretty vague right now, but the basic > idea would be to round up some laptops and set them up for a day- or > afternoon-long workshop with a few presentations/exercises geared at > introducing the kids to the kind of cool stuff we get to do everyday.
> I'm reaching out to see if anyone would be interested in volunteering to > help put something like this together. I've got my shop (http://carney.co) > on board; we'll be hosting the event, however it shapes up. We're starting > small and are still very much in the idea stage, so any input you guys have > is very much appreciated.
> Best, > -jf
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Depending on when it is and if the planets align, and it's after April, I might be able to help out. On Mar 26, 2012 6:09 PM, "Steve Klabnik" <st...@steveklabnik.com> wrote:
> Whatever I can do with Hackety to help, lemme know.
> On Mon, Mar 26, 2012 at 6:00 PM, Jeremy Flores <jeremy.flo...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Heyo,
> > I was talking with a few of my friends at a recent charity event for Big > > Brothers, Big Sisters here in GBG (http://www.bbbslr.org), and it came > to > > light that a bunch of the kids in the program ("littles" in the > vernacular) > > are, predictably, really interested in computers and video games. It was > > stressed that for many of these kids, the very idea that career paths > like > > ours exist is really inaccessible. They don't have much, if any, > exposure to > > adults that work in professional fields (especially STEM folks).
> > I showed them projects like Hackity-Hack and Try Ruby and Kids Ruby and > they > > were blown away. Since the event, we've been talking about hosting a demo > > day for both bigs and littles. It's pretty vague right now, but the basic > > idea would be to round up some laptops and set them up for a day- or > > afternoon-long workshop with a few presentations/exercises geared at > > introducing the kids to the kind of cool stuff we get to do everyday.
> > I'm reaching out to see if anyone would be interested in volunteering to > > help put something like this together. I've got my shop ( > http://carney.co) > > on board; we'll be hosting the event, however it shapes up. We're > starting > > small and are still very much in the idea stage, so any input you guys > have > > is very much appreciated.
> > Best, > > -jf
> > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Pittsburgh Ruby Users Group" group. > > To post to this group, send email to rubypgh@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > rubypgh+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group at > > http://groups.google.com/group/rubypgh?hl=en.
> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Pittsburgh Ruby Users Group" group. > To post to this group, send email to rubypgh@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rubypgh+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rubypgh?hl=en.
> I showed them projects like Hackity-Hack and Try Ruby and Kids Ruby and > they were blown away. Since the event, we've been talking about hosting > a demo day for both bigs and littles. It's pretty vague right now, but > the basic idea would be to round up some laptops and set them up for a > day- or afternoon-long workshop with a few presentations/exercises > geared at introducing the kids to the kind of cool stuff we get to do > everyday.
You might want to consider the low-tech peanut butter sandwich exercise, where you ask the kids to tell you how to make a peanut butter sandwich, and follow the instructions to the letter like a typical dumb computer.
On Monday, March 26, 2012 at 6:41 PM, Steve Klabnik wrote: > This one works REALLY WELL.
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Awesome, thanks everyone. Next step for us is a meetup with the BBBS
folks and establish some goals and guidelines. I'm going to try to do
that in the next week or so. I realize it's already the end of March,
but I'm hopeful for a June event.
I finally had a chance to catch up with my contact at BBBS and I'm going to
schedule a brief conference call next week for her to layout the
motivations and goals of the event. Rather than try to get everyone that's
interested in an email chain, I've create (another!) Google Group for this
event. Considering it's relatively small scope, I don't anticipate the
group surviving beyond the event, but it's kind of a handy way for people
to self-indicate interest and participate.
> Awesome, thanks everyone. Next step for us is a meetup with the BBBS
> folks and establish some goals and guidelines. I'm going to try to do
> that in the next week or so. I realize it's already the end of March,
> but I'm hopeful for a June event.
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Pittsburgh Ruby Users Group" group.
> To post to this group, send email to rubypgh@googlegroups.com.
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> rubypgh+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/rubypgh?hl=en.
