DAI Sponsors STEM Course with Snipes Academy

July 28, 2021

DAI recently sponsored a STEM coding camp in partnership with North Carolina-based Annie H. Snipes Academy of Arts and Design for 10 elementary school-aged girls. Participants were selected by Snipes based on their creativity and problem-solving skills.

The program focused on four modules—hardware (taking apart laptop computers), block coding in MIT’s Scratch, Robot kits assembly, and creative projects design and presentation. The curriculum was developed by DaytoCode, a nonprofit that integrates arts with computer science.

“At the beginning of camp, many of them were reluctant to introduce themselves or share their interests in technology,” said Snipes’ Dr. Mary Alice Hudson. “By the end of the camp, they were proud and eager to share their creations!”

DAI donated 10 laptops and 15 Thimble robotics kits for students who completed the course to take home. The course teacher, Emmanuel Bamba, is a former DAI-sponsored Code Partners coding instructor. The program moderator, Mei Miles, is Code Partners’ former Marketing Director.

“After 2020, this isn’t just summer camp for the kids, it should be fun for the teachers and assistants, too,” says Miles. “If we’re not having fun teaching then they’re definitely not going to have fun learning.”