Offering the future to everyone
Migrant program, tech camps teamup to teach kids of all backgrounds
SANTA CLARA — Fryda Huizar has long dreamed of becoming a member of the U.S. Army military police. But after spending five intense days at a high-tech day camp, the middle-schooler might have a new dream, spurred by building “battle bots” with her first sweet taste of engineering.
“The robots will fight one another,” explained straight-talking Fryda, 13, of Sunnyvale, as she and her construction partner, Jeff Shen, 13, programmed their rolling beast to maneuver at top speed. The idea, flatly explained by Fryda, is for their mauling machine and another to “smash into each other and whoever flips? They lose.”
The fashioning of robots that rumble is but one of dozens of courses offered by iD Tech Camps that operate 150 sites all over the country — with nearly 30 in California. Providing day camps and overnight sessions, iD Tech preaches the value of STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). In short, they promise entry to millions of high-paying future jobs and success to the most adroit.
But while such camps, offering 57,000 summer
slots, are accessible to families that can afford them, the federal Migrant Education Program provides access, big dreams and high future potential to some of the more unlikely families and kids.
“I had one mom who begged me to send her kids to iD camp again,” said Beatrice Martinez of the Migrant Eduation Program chapter in the Santa Clara Unified School District, which recently hosted a “spring break” session at Don Callejon School. “She said they enjoyed learning so many new things and that they had a good time doing so. I love to see needy students get such a precious experience.”
A digitized sea
The Migrant Education Program focuses on the children of parents who labor in low-paying, migratory jobs — field work, fisheries and wineries — among others. Many such families live in overcrowded domiciles and have steep financial challenges. Most of the families endure so many moves, the youngsters rarely get positive connections to teachers, schools or any kind of uplifting organizations.
But just last week, the program and iD Tech got together in the Callejon gymnasium, which was filled with eager and curious 7- to 17-year-olds working over app development, electrical engineering, 3-D modeling and 3-D printing. Two Migrant Education Program families — five children on full scholarship — were focusing their curiosity on robotics, game design and computer programming.
“I’m making a game,” explained Valerie Hernandez, a 10-year-old with a shock of flaming red hair, who could scarcely take her eyes away from a laptop screen. She and dozens of kids — adult monitors watch over eight youngsters each — were busy being introduced to programming with JavaScript. “Right now,” she clarified, “I’m using Photoshop to color the background.”
“She’s my Strawberry Short Cake girl,” said Martinez, referring to Valerie’s stunning mane, which delightfully set her apart in a room filled with studious youngsters. “Families like hers can’t get such opportunities because they are working hard all the time. And not only can’t they afford tech camps, but have trouble paying for Little League or anything extra like that.
The spring session at the school in the Santa Clara elementary school, looked like a digitized sea of boys and girls sailing through waves of mechanical projects, tech design, computer languages, coding syntax, physics and critical thinking. Nationally, iD Tech, which has been operating since 1999 — when Google was a 1-year-old infant — offers 60 different age-oriented courses that get ever more complicated for those who attend summer after summer.
“Some of the things kids do here are entirely new for them,” said Christian Turkoanje, a mentor whose focus was robot programming. “I think it’s awesome to be in a position to help spread knowledge about the emerging STEM fields to everyone. Teaching this is one of my passions.”
Minions and creeps
Over in the busy gamedesign section of the gym, the Rocha brothers — Miguel, 14, and Giovani, 12 — were sitting side by side, creating for the first time ever, for the popular game, “DOTA 2”.
“I’m making a map for all the minions and creeps to come together in battle,” said Miguel, about the famed, competitive online game that boasts $4 million in international prizes. “I have made sneak attacks and towers that stop ene- mies when they trespass. It took some time, but it was worth it.”
Next to him, Giovani said, “Right now I’m spawning monsters, and then I’m going to test them. If they are good, I’ll keep creating new ones. If they’re not right, I’ll have to fix them and then move them to some other locations.”
After years of only playing video games, what does Giovani think after just a couple of days of actually creating for a game? “It’s pretty fun,” he said, smiling.
Dan Brockwell, a fourtime teacher for iD Tech, knows what it means to the myriad youngsters.
“I love having the direct impact on the kids,” said Brockwell, a graduate of New York’s Rochester Institute of Technology, “and giving them the great experience I had when I was a camper years ago.”
While a girl like Fryda might pursue elevated and lucrative dreams, such added value is highly practical when presented to children of all cultures and backgrounds.
“There are so many jobs in this whole field,” said Brockwell about STEM employment. “The question is not ‘What am I gonna do now that I’ve finished college?’ The question is, ‘Where do I want to work?’ ”
Without apologies, the RIT grad declared, “The right opportunity allows any of these kids to pursue what they learn here and to ultimately make a lot of money.”