Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley members know how operate 3D printers and program robots – science, technology, engineering and math education, commonly known as STEM education, has already been a part of the youth organization’s offerings.
However, the availability of some the technology has been limited, so Huntington Valley clubs have had to share items such as Chrome Books and robots, or bots as they called for short.
Now, all four of the clubs will have the STEM technology they need – no sharing necessary – with a recently announced $100,000 donation from Bridgestone Retail Operations.
During the announcement, club kids who’ve been participating in the STEM curriculum demonstrated their expertise printing 3D objects, writing code and navigating various bots.
“This will make it so that each club has enough for all the kids who want to participate in STEM to be able to do it and not have to sit and wait,” said Ryan Brenes, director of operations for the youth clubs that serve Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley. “It’s creating the technology infrastructure for us to be able to provide these programs at all four locations.”
Brooklyn Payce, 12, of Huntington Beach, well aware of the value of such a significant donation.
“I’ve been here for almost eight years and one time we got $5,000 and I came the next day and there were four more computers,” she said as she demonstrated 3D printing. “There was a lot more electronic stuff.”
Bridgestone has been a supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the country for several years, officials said. The $100,000 donation is part of its Driving Great Futures initiative, which has raised more than $20 million to help kids and teens gain access to Boys & Girls Clubs’ resources.
“We understand that having the best and latest technology helps us drive the best products and services for our customers,” said Randy Gleason, region manager for Bridgestone Retail Operations. “We also…
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