Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A couple dozen youngsters at the Road Home homeless shelter got pretty excited tonight as they explored fun with science and technology.
It was a chance for them to learn important educational skills while having a blast building robots, sound synthesizers and bridges made of toothpicks and marshmallows.
"We're really preparing them for their futures in the 21st century," said Sidharth Oberoi, the co-founder of Zaniac, the after-school science and technology program that put on the program at the shelter.
Zaniac aims to light the fire of curiosity by letting the kids jump right into projects. Science, technology, engineering and math — or STEM subjects — are a main focus of education, because those are real-world skills that lead to good jobs.
The young students don't necessarily grasp that yet, but they were certainly eager to learn.
"I'm making a robot," said Cody, an elementary school student excited to make his own computer-controlled robot car.
Zaniac fuels that interest by helping the children complete projects they might not even start otherwise. Oberoi believes the community needs these children to embrace science and technology jobs.
"We teach them 21st-century skills like problem-solving, collaboration, communication," he said.
They will need the programming and engineering skills they used to build these computer-driven robots.
"You get to create stuff," said Emily.
She already likes science and would like to work on robots even more in the future, possibly as a career.
"You get to mess around with batteries and stuff," she said.
Children who experience homelessness often slip behind their peers in school if they're moving frequently, said Celeste Eggert, development director at The Road Home. That's why this program is so valuable to these children, she explained.
"It's doing educational enrichment for our kids, which they probably wouldn't be able to afford otherwise," she said.
The students' parents were glad to see them energized.
"Technology is going to be our future, and they are our future, so they need to know about it," said Skye Smith, a parent of one of the children.
"If we want kids to provide a better future for themselves, we need to give them the right resources," said Oberoi.
