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Photo by Mark Robinson
A Play-Well TEKnologies instructor works with children to teach engineering skills with Legos.
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Photo by Mark Robinson
A participant works on one of the robots used in the robotics competition.
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Photo by Mark Robinson
Children at the event had the chance to get behind the wheel of a car used by drag racer Bert Jackson.
Race cars and robotics roused the interest of more than 125 children visiting the Richmond International Raceway from the city's public housing communities this past weekend.
The Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority partnered with nearly 20 local and state organizations to hold a science, technology, engineering and mathematics outreach event at the race track on Saturday.
“We’re trying to give exposure to an under-served population,” says Adrienne Goolsby, CEO of RRHA and a former engineer. “What I want to ensure is that we don’t have generational poverty, [and] that our children are invested in technology.”
Of the 20,000 residents living in RRHA-managed properties, 53 percent are 15 years old or younger, Goolsby says. The housing authority has hosted STEM events in the past to introduce children to opportunities they may not have in the public school system, she adds.
At the RIR event, children buzzed around in highlighter yellow T-shirts, tinkering with robots, building Lego structures and playing chess. An afternoon session put kids in the driver’s seat of one of drag racer Bert Jackson’s cars. Teams from Richmond, Hampton and Norfolk participated in a friendly robotics competition.
William Kearney, a resident of Chesterfield County, attended the event with his 2-year-old granddaughter.
“They’re already excited about [technology], but they don’t really think past this,” he says, holding up his cell phone. “You got to show them how it relates to stuff.”
“Those are the dots we’re trying to help them connect,” says Jerryl Bennett, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s liaison for federal inter-agency STEM initiatives, “that what they’re doing with the robots is the same thing that mechanics do when a race car pulls into the pit. It’s the same processes.”
In June 2012, HUD sponsored a STEM outreach event in Norfolk for children in public housing communities. A second event was held in Hampton in 2013, and Richmond was chosen to host the 2014 rendition. More than 450 children from public housing communities in the three cities have attended the events over the years, Bennett says.
With federal grant money dwindling, Goolsby says, forging partnerships with local organizations like West Point Society of Richmond, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Union University is key to holding outreach events. Volunteers from each organization were on hand to work with the children and talk about degree programs with parents.
VCU alumna Racheida Lewis, 22, traveled from Charlottesville, where she is pursuing a graduate degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia, to volunteer at the event with the National Society of Black Engineers at VCU.
“It’s one thing to have adults here, but it’s another to have college students here to connect with the kids and show them ‘Hey, I’m a young black engineer and you can be too. This is a viable option for you,’” Lewis says.
