Some very young area students learned about building, programming and operating robots from members of the Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart Robotics Club during a drop-in workshop at the Lake Forest Library on Saturday, Jan. 25. By the end of the one-hour session, each of the approximately 10 participants – in grades K-4 – had put what they’d learned to use by successfully assembling a robot and "coding" their way through a maze.
The idea for this Drop-in Robot Showcase came from Maddie Wenc, the Lake Forest Library’s youth services librarian and a 2015 graduate of Woodlands Academy. It’s similar to a robotics program she coordinated in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, her first library job after graduating with an MLIS degree. When Wenc moved back to this area for her present position at Lake Forest Library, she told her supervisor that she’d love to replicate that program here.
“One reason for asking students from Woodlands to lead the program was my awareness that women are under-represented in STEM fields,” she said. “I wanted to present the program attendees with an all-girls team, for boys to see young women leading a STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) program, and girls to see themselves reflected in these students who have pursued robotics at the high school level.”
Wenc added that librarians talk a lot about the concept of windows, mirrors and sliding glass doors in their work.” Windows are ways for us to see experiences outside of our own, mirrors are ways to see ourselves reflected, and sliding glass doors allow us to be immersed in experiences,” she said. “While we generally apply this concept to the books we provide to our community, it can also be applied to programs. I knew that this program had the potential to serve as all three: a window for boys, a mirror for girls, and a sliding glass door for everyone, regardless of their gender.”
The Woodlands Academy Robotics Club members did a fantastic job with the program and presentation, according to Wenc, who'd like to make this inaugural Drop-in Robot Showcase an annual Lake Forest Library event if possible.