How The Village Helped to Save The Lincoln Elementary Project

Updated June 26, 2018 - My greatest apologies to you, my readers. In my enthusiasm and support for the youth I serve, I overstepped some bounds and broke some protocols. Please understand that the original post made, to thank those who helped our kids, has been adjusted to fit within protocols. Many thanks to those who pointed out the problems with the original sharing. It was not intended to draw official lines between the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) or the Winners Reaching Academic Potential (WRAP) and this effort.

Be forewarned: This story is long and takes us to the far reaches of the nether. Or so it might seem.

The story began in 2015, when teacher Tracy Fideler-Rodriguez's son took a digital animation class with Makersville and Caprice Spencer Rothe (hands of E.T.) at a now-renamed store for artisans and artists in downtown Long Beach. It was called Made in Long Beach (is now MADE by Millworks). Much has happened since then. Together with the Long Beach Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, and armed with a grant from Honda's Research and Development group, Makersville and a number of makers delivered experiences to the students that included sewing, soldering, electricity, LEGO® brick play, mechanical engineering concepts (through LEGO® Technics), MIT's Scratch programming, physical logic games and much, much more. It was executed during the after-school program called Winners Reaching Amazing Potential (WRAP) and it fused art and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Some call it STEAM (STEM with an A for Art). We call it STE(A)M in recognition of the fact that many recognize the STEM but that we rely on the engagement and necessity of the arts. There was Caprice Spencer Rothe, there was Morio Murase, There was Linda Varela. there were others. We called it ScoutMakers, in recognition of the support provided by the Long Beach Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

OUR 2017-2018 GOAL

There's so much I could tell you about ScoutMakers, how hard we worked to bring it all together. That could be confusing. I'll instead focus for just a minute and share how the 2017-2018 ScoutMaker project unfolded. Teacher Tracy and I sat down to discuss goals for the program. I offered a number of options. Another Maker rotation, an open Makerspace, the FIRST LEGO® League Jr (FLL Jr.). She chose the latter.

DEFINING THE GOALS AND FUNDING THE PROGRAM

We set to work finding funds for the program. First for a couple of robots, to get the learning started. The WeDo robot was what is needed for FLL Jr. There are program kits to purchase. We got a couple so we could see what was involved. Then a little staff time for Makersville to deliver the program (me). We formed 8 teams of youth. Twenty three 5th graders and twenty two 2nd graders. Older kids mentoring younger kids. After that we needed more kits because... we had eight teams!

THE PROBLEMS WE ENCOUNTERED AND THE HELP FROM THE VILLAGE

I had an out of the box moment and for a few sessions led the kids down a path involving oranges. Many individuals in the Next Door community helped to provide oranges for the kids. The oranges provided a little fun, were very delicious and was an interesting diversion during our fundraising efforts. For me, it was reminiscent of another time, when I was seeking lemons and playing the Community Lemonade Game.

All along the way, the village helped. Thanks to Kristi Scarpone and Cassie McIntyre, the FIRST national folks kicked in (with help from NewsCorp). A global payments company called Ripple kicked in to help our kids. Folks from New Hampshire and Texas that we didn't know. Someone called Anonymous helped a few times. Many folks from the Robotics Society of Southern California and the Riverside Robotics Society helped. My sister Anne from New Jersey made a nice donation. But all this fundraising took time. I came to see the issues non profits encounter... Balancing the fundraising and making progress on the important things, so that the benefit is actually realized, is hard. I knew that. I see hard working non profit employees all the time.

By the time that the last fundraising challenge went out - It was the last because we were out of time - the year's FIRST LEGO® League Jr. kits were all sold out, and the season had closed early. WHAT!? We are taught to be resourceful, and to keep on trying, so I first reached out to my many friends who love LEGO®. You may know I am the Ambassador to the LEGO® Group for the Long Beach LEGO® User Group (LBLUG). It's a fancy title, but I try to live up to the name. So I have many friends who love LEGO®. I reached out to Shared Science, a local non profit I started with two other moms many years ago, and to the LEGO® User Group of Los Angeles (LUGOLA) and to friends in the San Diego LEGO® User Group (SanDLUG). There were some leads, but nothing panned out. LEGO® kits tend to get mixed up together after they are used.

Cassie from FIRST was helping, Steve Stark, the FIRST So. Cal Regional Director sent me one. A gal from LUGOLA was going to ask a teacher at her school. I had 3 and needed 5 more kits.

So I tried sourcing the parts on Bricklink, an online marketplace for LEGO® parts. But by this time, we were so close to our target date of a June 8th show (think Science Fair with LEGO® bricks)! The parts in the kit were such pretty colors - and included some special parts that were hard to find and therefore a little pricey. So I ordered a "hodge podge of parts" in different colors so that I could have the kids build the minimum required component for the competition. (see picture). I put a note in the memo field:

"Hi! I'm working with a number of LEGO® teams and need this asap. I'll give you a shout out in my blog if you can help me to receive this by Thursday PM!".

My new friends at The Block Shop (Nevada) expedited the request, and I received it in a couple of days! Thank you, The Block Shop !

It would have done the job, but the kids on the five teams that didn't have the pretty kits were looking at a "hodge podge of parts", in front of them, and three teams that had pretty kits. They weren't motivated to build with the hodge podge parts.

Also, as luck would have it, Jillian at FIRST Headquarters was able to locate five kits for me. They had to let the air clear from the season finals in early May. Thankfully, the kits were scheduled to arrive that day, so I could tell the kids that they were all going to have cool parts in a nice box and a rainbow of colors.

Marlyessa Connole, a teacher at Jim Thorpe Fundamental School in Santa Ana (where I was doing a Rube Goldberg themed contraption series-another long story) donated several of WeDo 1.0 kits to the program. Our equipment problem was solved!

I haven't yet told you about the RSSC members who helped by being there in person. Tim Lewis, Jim DiNunzio, Ben Partisi and Bob Huss. There were also the members of Sato Academy of Math and Science team Momentum who pitched in as reviewers and motivated the kids with their high school robotics FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) team. Momentum Robotics is a project of Shared Science.

On June 8th the parents arrived for the expo. Teacher Tracy introduced the program, and I shared the experience with the parents. WRAP onsite coordinator Gladys Rodriguez translated, as not all the parents speak English.

AND IT WAS VERY, VERY, GOOD.

That, my friends, is the story of how the village helped to save the Lincoln Elementary Project.

FOOTNOTE: The ScoutMaker journey continues, this summer with more and different students. I'm armed with four LEGO Mindstorms EV3 robots donated by the Long Beach - Qingdao Sister City (one of several Sister Cities of Long Beach), the goal is to create teams for the Southern California Qualifier of the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) that will be hosted by the RSSC on August 11th. It's a multi-national event, and we are seeking to create multi-national teams consisting of youth from China and the US. It's a complicated goal, but nothing we do ever seems to be easy or without risk.

AN INVITATION: I invite you to check out the fun in my new video series "Hack The Brick" with RSSC member John Davis and to check out the cool, limited quantity, custom kits of LEGO® bricks made by Master Model Builder Brian Heins as our fundraiser. We're working to break through barriers to creativity (led by Duane Wilson), learn about electricity and electronics through hacks and yes, learn about robotics with the EV3 and Mindstorms NXT. Then we will put them all together into an invention for the World Robot Olympiad Open Competition. I'm sure I'll be chatting with you more about this.

I know it was long. I like to recognize all contributions. If I have missed yours, please let me know! Thanks for listening!

Read Amy Orr's experience with ScoutMakers here.

Trish Tsoiasue blogs on the Belmont Shore Patch, shares experiences on her YouTube channel Squigglemom, makes Makersville, and things for Makersville and celebrates life's experiences.