In 2020 & 2021 YTC launched a virtual summer robotics camp for 30 youth in the Chicagoland area. In 2022 those students are ready to be the instructors of as many as 250 new students in Chicago and across the globe.
Tour our "Free Summer Program" pages and if you feel you could host a program, then let us know if you want to join us.
Our Concept
This is the power of our approach, using student teachers to introduce Arduino's to underserved communities all over the country and beyond. It’s a concept that worked well in our pandemic-inspired model and now we are testing its scalability. It’s a system where every student becomes a teacher with the opportunity to be rewarded for helping the community grow. In honing this approach, not only are we introducing new students to a STEM Education, but we are also building leaders and problem solvers who are prepared to take what they have learned and build a career path in a technology-driven economy.
Developing The Program
We’ve been working on this for a few years. YTC’s clubs in Cicero and Evanston IL added robotics in 2017 and YTC students taught robotics to our partners in Durango, Mexico, teaching the class in Spanish on Zoom in 2018. YTC held two virtual summer camps in 2020, 2021 served 65 students and despite the challenges of distance, culture, and sometimes language over seventy percent of students completed the program. In the process YTC has created a team of experienced student leaders and teachers ready to lead the new expansion.
You are in Good Hands
We are not going into this alone. The students you recruit to join us are in good hands. YTC has a vision that ensures every community has access to a digital future, and through grass roots contributions, we have been able to reach more teens, more families, and more non-profits who may otherwise not have access to today’s modern digital tools. However, for this new expansive effort we have engaged Left Bank Consulting as supporting YTC’s strategic growth. This includes managing the 2022 Introduction to Robotics Summer Camp. Marc Siciliano, Founder and CEO of Left Bank Consulting is an international education consultant with three decades of experience supporting teachers, schools and school districts to improve and adopt STEM strategies.
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