Columbus, OH – On Thursday, May 1st, twelve elementary school teams participated in Techieloka, a technology competition for students in TECH CORPS’ Techie Club program. “Loka” is Sanskrit word for “world; therefore, “techieloka” means techie world.
Techieloka is an exciting and competitive event where students presented their projects on different computing and engineering topics to a cadre of technology savvy judges.
This year’s winning team, from Indianola Informal K-8, stole the show with their Sing & Soothe Robot project. Riley Creagh, Kendall Day, Hayden Roemer and Finn Lada, all 4th graders, designed, built and programmed a robot that can entertain a baby in the absence of human presence.
The team also programmed an animation Scratch, a platform developed by MIT, to demonstrate the abilities of their Sing & Soothe robot. One of the team member’s baby brother provided the inspiration for their project. The team was mentored by a group of amazing volunteers from Resource.
The winning team members received approximately $1000 worth of prizes, including an iPad mini with Retina display, for their achievement. The event was sponsored by the City of Columbus, Department of Technology and AT&T.
TECH CORPS also announced John Arora, a 5th grader from Kilgour Elementary School in Cincinnati, as the Blog of the Week winner for garnering the most Blogs of the Week throughout the school year. As part of the Techie Club program, students are prompted to blog about what they learned at the end of each club meeting.
“I was so impressed by the projects and presentations that these kids created,” said John Manner, Senior Engagement Manager at Covestic and one of the Techieloka judges. “I wasn’t doing anything like this at their age.” While the student projects were being judged, the parents attended a session focused on keeping their children engaged in STEM programs. This session was facilitated by Shawna Fletcher, Interim Director of the Women in Engineering Department at The Ohio State University, and Lisa Chambers, National Executive Director of TECH CORPS.
“We were elated with the turnout and success of the event and knowing that we are creating the next generation of technology innovators,” said Carla Thompson, Regional Director for Central Ohio. “We are already looking forward to next year’s event!”