As in previous years, Teknikio partnered with the Geek Forest summer camp for a STEM education workshop based on soft-circuit wearables; only, this was my first year teaching the workshop. (Soft-circuit wearables are circuits sewn on flexible fabric that can be worn as a fashion statement.) The crowd consisted of eager and bright eyed girls ready to get their hands on whatever Teknikio had to offer. In the beginning of the workshop, the girls had no experience sewing circuits, but not for long.

Each day started off with a very brief G train ride into Williamsburg a.k.a. the campsite. That train ride was the calm before the storm. Upon entering through the camp doors, I could expect to see Geek Forest t-shirts flying everywhere, clutched in the hands of the girls who were itching to get changed in time for the workshop. We started off the week making emoji pillowcases and purses that were quite the eye catchers. During this time, we learned about the basics: what is a circuit? What is conductive thread made of?  

Once the girls took their cool designs home, it was on to the next big thing: t-shirt

designs.

I wasn’t kidding when I said everyday brought something new. We leveled up on our Geek Forest t-shirts, usingTeknikio’s specialized LED’s to accessorize a skyline and rocket to be sewn on. We expanded from series circuits to parallel circuits. Our rocket design in particular featured a switch, which in this case were sewable snaps. When the snaps were joined together, the LED light would turn on. By this time the girls began to master the art of crafting soft circuit wearables. Each t-shirt had its own flare.

By the end of the camp, the girls were helping each other with their soft-circuit designs on their own. These girls proved that anyone can be experts on STEAM. I left the camp fuelled by the budding ideas everyone had for future projects they would tackle on their own. Thanks for a great week Geek Forest!