We have a goal as GigaBite to create a pathway for STEM in our community. We all have a passion for robotics and engineering, and want to share that in as many ways as possible. Sharing that with youth is how we feel we can make the biggest impact!
FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Teams
This season, we were able to start two LEGO robotics teams in our community. This has been one of our goals for years because our mission is to create a pathway for STEM in our community, and this is the first step to building it! Now, we are able to get more kids involved with FIRST and STEM as a whole. We mentor them multiple times a week, and all the members are in elementary or middle school. Many of our own GigaBite team members got into FIRST through FLL, so this is another full circle opportunity for us. We throughly enjoy being able to pass down our love and passion for STEM to the younger members of our community.
Over the past two summers, seven of our team members worked for one of our mentors, David, as STEM interns at his summer camps. We taught critical STEM concepts to students grades Kindergarten to 8th. GigaBite team members had the opportunity to teach camps such as Lego Robotics, Maker Creativity, Coding, and a favorite, mini Battle-Bots! For all of us, teaching these camps was a full circle moment because we went to David's camps when we were younger and they nurtured our passion for STEM at a young age. One of the biggest projects we have done has been building boats with MIT students. Our first summer we built wooden rowboats from scratch, and the second we built large remote controlled boats. Our GigaBite interns hope to continue participating in this mentoring experience and honing their teaching skills.
Giving robot demos is one of the best ways for people in our community to learn about the robotics opportunities available to them. Many young members of our community have seen our robot and are very interested in the engineering and design process it took to make it. Parents and kids alike are very excited about STEM being further implemented into our community and are eager to join the team when the kids are old enough. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts of making STEM accessible in our community. If you would like GigaBite to give a demonstration, please reach out to us through social media @gigabite_robotics or through email: gigabiterobotics@gmail.com
We have been able to reach out and hear from many people who work in STEM in our community. Doing this outreach is great for our team of aspiring engineers and people who want to go into STEM-related fields. One of our mentors, David Wise, is a mechanical engineer from MIT, and another mentor, David Whittington, has worked as a professional 3D designer. Some of our sponsors such as Lumos, a civil engineering firm and Slate Geotechnical, a geotechnical engineering consulting company have been able to show us what they do in their engineering jobs. We have also had the opportunity to do lessons with students from MIT in the MIT Spokes program. If you would be willing to talk with GigaBite about what you do in your STEM related work, please reach out at gigabiterobotics@gmail.com !