19 Oct Rally offers kids a new look at math, science … and life
Posted on Thu, Oct. 18, 2012
School groups show off their smart projects at the STEM UP Kansas City rally held at Union Station.
By JOE ROBERTSON
The Kansas City Star
For just a moment, before going out to quarterback her Lego robot as only she can, 12-year-old Ja’lyn Lewis imagined the children like her who were missing.
Girls.
Children of color.
Children in urban schools, where many come from low-income families. If only more children could get the same spark that has charged her with dreams of engineering and science, she said.
“You can help us think in a different way,” she said. “You can help us look at life and science in a new way.” Ja’lyn and her schoolmates on the Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy of Technology robotics team were one of several school groups showing off their projects in science, technology, engineering and math Thursday at the STEM UP Kansas City rally at Union Station.
There she was, a star, with classmates urging her to the controls to put her robot on display.
But there was an urgent message in why organizers of the event — the KC STEM Alliance and Time Warner Cable — made sure the Banneker team was part of the showcase. The award-winning robotics team didn’t exist for any Banneker students ahead of Ja’lyn’s fifth-grade class a year ago.
