PSCTLT??

Hello VISTAs,
It’s been a while. Apologies to the automated emailer that emails me every so often. I’ve been meaning to write this for a while. Very busy week last week and I’d like to tell you all about it. On Wednesday we had our largest computer distribution to date. We distributed 18 (!!!) computers to 18 families in Lynnwood. Just like the other distribution it was a definitely a learning experience. I was impressed with how the club leader had coordinated with the Department of Social and Health Services to find the families that needed computers. It seems to me like that is the best way to get computers to those who need them. I lead the mini-trainings for the families and helped them get acquainted with their new machines. Compared to the first distribution, it seemed like many of them were excited to use their new computers and hopefully get them connected to the internet.
The next day I attended a dinner at Ruth’s Chris in downtown Seattle with Bernard Harris Jr., the first African-American in space. He’s currently on his Dream Tour and I was there to participate in an “exchange of ideas about the future of math and science education”. While at dinner I met some other people involved in science education: a few teachers from the area, the director of outreach at the Pacific Science Center, and the founder of Moontown Foundation. It was neat to hear how important science education is to everyone there and what sort of things other organizations and people are doing to keep this issue on people’s minds. I felt pretty honored to contribute my two cents about the importance of technology education. All-in-all a good discussion and cool to hear from all sorts of people involved in science education.
Last Saturday we held a computer training in Manson, WA. It was our first training with the Bridges Project of Central Washington University in Ellensburg. Although we didn’t have the turnout of trainees we were hoping for, there’s still a great potential for future trainings. I also learned that even though my Spanish is decent, there is no substitute for a native speaker. Hopefully we’ll get a better turnout next time.
March is looking to be pretty busy as well. The Puget Sound Center has scheduled a staff retreat next week, which should be fun. We’re in the process of changing our name and I think the focus of the retreat may be just that: the name change. Any brilliant ideas? Send them my way. We really need a better acronym...PSCTLT is pretty terrible. I’ll also be scheduling computer distributions, looking for training opportunities, and GSD. Thanks for reading.