F.R.Rice is an elementary school just down the road from Kealing magnet school in the heart of East Austin. The school is about half African-American and half Mexican-American, with no white students. While the housing projects, drugs, and gang violence are just across the street the atmosphere inside is as joyous as only kids can be. Champion teacher Kathleen Stockwell has long worked with Robot Group artists and engineers to enrich Eastside schools and its always been a fantastic high. So when Kathleen called to invite me to participate in a technology based art project at Rice, in partnership with Applied Materials, I gladly accepted.
The idea was for the students to create artworks incorporating or about technology. Applied Materials employees would vote to purchase the most striking pieces. Funds were to go to enrichment activities at the school. The works would be displayed at their facility and as a grand finale the kids would get to go to there and participate in a video tele-conference with a similar group of kids in San Jose.
Each child worked several weeks on their project, each in a completely different medium. Glen Currie provided some Robot Group coloring books to give to the students. Kathleen bolstered core skills by requiring the kids to write down their concepts for the teleconference and carefully rehearse their delivery.
The artwork was predictably charming and original. When young minds express their global visions of technology the attentive roboteer has much to learn. (Joe Perez and I started out in the schools dragging the partially completed Varmint around (Silicon Barrio '86). We took pleasure in adopting the kids ideas. The ProtoAndroid concept has a strong genesis in the drawings and essays we collected from students. Ask to see them some time.)
Finally the day came for the big event (May 13). You might be shocked to learn that funding for school buses is generally unavailable for a field trip like this so we had to cram kids into Kathleen's van (bought with her own money to haul her pupils around!) and Principal Johnson's 4x4. They didn't all fit so they drafted my bizarre old pickup to round out the transport.
The teleconference was technically interesting. The T1 was down for upgrading so the conference proceeded over a 56K leased line. On the fly compression made the video quality acceptable with about a two second delay between stations. Each conference room was a wonderland of servo cameras, touch screens, boundary effect mikes, and other gismos. The Jurrasic multi-processor box could now be replaced with a high end PC.
Kathleen's thoroughbred status shined through the children, who proved to be much better prepared that their Silicon Valley counterparts. The kids adjusted to the voice activated asynchronous format quicker than Buzz Aldrin. Part of the dialogue was in Spanish. As the kids took over the adults present began to enter a state of youth and technology induced Satori. Some of us were brushing aside tears. For one eternal moment the world was perfect.
After an hour and a half we signed off. The kids were loaded down with the computer generated color certificates of merit and the most elaborate blue ribbons I'd ever seen. They looked like they'd been stripped from the halters of Kentucky Derby winners. That day there wasn't an engineer around with a bigger ego than the little kid who won two of the handsome trophies. As the kids boarded the vehicles the principal plucked them of the much needed cash for the after school fund.
Nothing can shake the conviction that this sort of event is of enormous direct, intangible, and even transcendental benefit to the companies and individuals that sponsor them, not to mention the kids. Teachers report that the students rehash such events for weeks afterward, providing a gaping "teaching window". If there were a productivity meter at Applied Materials that day I bet it would have blipped up, despite the distraction. Mine sure did. One can only wait and wonder at what flowers may blossom in the minds of those children.
If you want to try your hand at outreach, pick up the phone and call an AISD "priority school". Talk to the principal or a science or art teacher. Arrange for your employer to give you a couple of paid hours off. If they refuse, resign. Most companies are glad to oblige. Big companies are usually already linked to certain schools, often a "poor" one and a "rich" one (Adopt-a-School). Level the playing field for the kids, pick the poor one.
Plan a fast paced hands-on demo of whatever cool hacks you have around. Think like a kid. Think safety. Throw in a short sermon about studying hard as your demo peaks. If the kids shriek with delight so loud it hurts your ears, way beyond any teachers control, you've got 'em. Just try and wipe the smile off your face.
Someday a young adult will approach you and say, " Aren't you the one that came to my old school and ......, that was really cool. Now I'm a team leader at XYZ."
Thanks for flying PolyCosmos. Join us again.