That's a wrap! Another successful year for the Next Gen Tech Academy

The Next Gen Tech Academy was back at it again with their second year of summer coding and robotics! This was a free 3-week program, from August 1st to August 19th that educated youth on STEM-related careers and computer programming skills to improve their chances of success in this field. Students learned Python, which is a very popular coding language, by using a free online application known as Vex Robotics. Vex Robotics is a virtual simulation of robots for students to code actions and complete challenges. For a more hands-on experience, students then took their coding knowledge to program real robots called codeBots, which are little circuit boards on wheels! For the robots, the youth then used the design thinking process to create 3D printed parts to improve their overall function. 

Along with coding and 3D printing, students attended field trips and heard from various guest speakers like Cheikhou O Ndiaye from IBM and Fran Daszak, who is the leader of the robotics team at the University of Rochester. Our first tour took place at The Hudson Valley Regional Airport in Wappingers Falls. Youth received coaching from speakers at Dutchess Community College who shared with us the importance of career planning and opportunities in the aviation field. Students also explored DCC’s aviation facility and flight simulators. 

On our second adventure, we visited MPI INC., which is a manufacturing facility that utilizes wax to create metal parts. The company showcased their amazing wax room equipment and highly advanced robots. The tour guide informed our youth of how prevalent robots and coding are becoming and how marketable these skills are at a young age. This was a great opportunity for the Next Gen students to expand their minds of the world of technology and various careers within the STEM field.  

For their second week in the program, the youth received work readiness training in resume writing, mock interviews, and workplace etiquette. These skills were then applied to a reverse job fair, where employers interviewed youth to get to know them more instead of youth interviewing them. Each employer, like Elizabeth O’Raffity who was a STEM educator, provided a brief presentation on their job positions and how technology related to it. The students then presented themselves with a poster board that highlighted all their achievements and strengths from their resume with accompanying pictures. 

In the final week of the program, the youth graduated the program with a Vex coding certification and completed their capstone project. The capstone consisted of putting together an obstacle course in four groups and coding their codeBots to race through the course as fast as they could – the group with the fastest time would win. A big congratulations to our students Sarah Akpojetwavwo, Shawn Elliott, Jayvar Green, and Hazel Sanchez for winning the capstone competition! We are so proud of our youth and can’t wait for next year. Here is to a successful second year of Next Gen Tech Academy!

If you are interested in finding out ways you can be involved in our workforce programming please contact Katrina Gobins, Vice President of Workforce Development, 845-454-1700 x1024 katrina@dcrcoc.org.

*The Next Gen Tech Academy is funded through the NYS OCFS and Dutchess County Division of Youth Services and the Dyson Foundation.