The Young Women’s Youth Leadership Academy has announced a series of robotics classes for young women to help introduce students to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics through the Bot Builders program.
Community donors to the Fort Worth Library Foundation are providing the funding to host the mentorship programs that began in early October. The program originated after Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker visited The Dork Side, a competitive robotics team, in 2023. The students asked Parker to create a program to help mentor other young people interested in STEM.
Parker linked the group to the Library Foundation, which facilitated the purchase of LEGO Education SPIKE Prime builders kits.
“At YWLA, our mission is to develop the full potential of every girl through empowerment, character building, and experiences in STEAM,” YWLA Principal Rediesha Allen said in an emailed statement. “Our robotics and drone teams are made up of extraordinary Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS) who believe in the power of knowledge, and they want to empower both girls and boys in our community to understand and love robotics.”
LEGO describes the kits as opportunities to introduce and develop abstract thinking and critical thinking skills necessary for developing critical thinking skills for young people. The kits include components for building robots including sensors and motors, a coding app, and 50+ hours of learning experiences by professional teachers.
“For those students who have no experience with text-based coding or never thought that this was something that they would be interested in, they have really enjoyed coding with Python,” Ryan Riess, LEGO Education Ambassador and Technology and Engineering Teacher, William Annin Middle School, Basking Ridge, N.J. said in a statement on the company website. “To me, that is very powerful to make what can be a difficult concept to learn (text-based coding) accessible for every student. I was quite surprised to see this as not every 8th grader is able to pick up a language fairly easily, but the majority of them are!”
The program has three upcoming educational opportunities at Fort Worth Public Libraries: October 26 at the Regional East Public Library, November 9 at the Summerglen Public Library, and Nov. 16 at the Lincoln Public Library. Information about participating can be found on the Bot Builders website.