Kids' Tech University
Monkey and I are spending the day at Virginia State University for Kids’ Tech University.
We had a beautiful drive down to Petersburg, VA, and we enjoyed the time to visit.
The morning was spent in a lecture hall where Dr. Kelleher from Wash. U. in St. Louis (Remember those days, Buds?!) talked about “Computer Science In The World: From Toy Brains to Keeping Trees Healthy.”
The program Dr. Kelleher has created is called Looking Glass. It’s so impressive and humbling to me how many people are making programming so much easier for kids, and it’s free!
I knew that Zoe would be with a volunteer while the parents sat in the back, but I was glad we were actually so close together. She would often look back to gauge my reaction, or just to check and see that I was there.
I sat next to a wonderful Jennifer whose husband is an Admin. here at VSU. It was a great start to the day.
We were together for lunch, and Zoe was tickled to have fruit punch.
After lunch, the volunteers took the children to the computer lab at the library so they could play with Looking Glass, and the adults gathered back in the lecture hall. It was great to me to learn some information from the other parents about the various STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs available. U. of Virginia has a program, as well as ODU, and the ODU one is for girls in engineering.
That discussion led me to this cool list of science projects.
On a side note, Zoe and I had a good conversation on the drive down about how she felt our year was going. She likes what we are doing, but, she wants the kids to have a voice in where we go on Museum Mondays since I have chosen the last 3 locations for trips. Yup, is she my daughter.
Her request seemed like a great idea to me. It takes the pressure off me, plus, it feels like it has become our habit now, which was my goal for being the one to pick the locations to start us off.
Right now, I’m sitting in the lecture hall, listening to the discussion about the plans for this program, after just having heard about protecting our kids from cyberbullying. I’m looking forward to having her get back to tell me how she felt about the afternoon.
Looking forward to getting home to spend time with the family.
The next programs I need to check into:
