YOUTH/EDUCATION NEWS February 21, 2020 Mandela Meerkats Competing at the Nebraska Robotics Expo
Page Ten THE OMAHA STAR
The robotics team at Nelson Mandela Elementary will bring several scholars to the Nebraska Robotics Expo at the Strategic Air Command and Space Museum on Saturday. They will compete as the “Colorful Meerkats� in the Elementary Division of the CEENBoT Showcase among approximately 1,000 other Nebraska youth. The team consists of female scholars in grades 3-5 who have spent the last several weeks preparing for the Expo through a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) enrichment after-school program twice a week at Howard Kennedy Elementary School. This year’s theme is “Rockin the Bots�, and scholars will navigate robots through a musical obstacle course. Staff at Mandela believe it’s important that young girls are introduced to STEM enrichment activities, since those
fields are typically male dominated. Therefore, in addition to the Robotics Team, Mandela offers Girls Who Code as an after-school club. This program gives scholars the opportunity to dive into the field of computer science in a supportive community. Boys at the school aren’t left behind. All scholars at Nelson Mandela receive technology enrichment; every week they have a class dedicated to learning coding, programming, and computers. Last week, for Black History Month, scholars researched people of color that have made significant contributions to STEM fields or were famous inventors and made slideshow presentations to share during class. The lesson taught them important technical skills and gave them great role models for their
potential future careers. These classes are taught by the Library/Technology Specialist, KaSheena Maxwell, who also organizes the after-school enrichment programs. She is a member of the National Educational Technology Association (NETA), an organization dedicated to sharing information about using technology in the educational process. Mrs. Maxwell regularly attends NETA conferences to give Mandela scholars the most accurate technology experiences. Educators at Nelson Mandela Elementary recognize that technology will continue to grow in its usage in the workforce and therefore equip their scholars with the necessary tools for a successful future.
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Scholars race robots and navigate obstacle courses during technology class.
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