Ready, Set, Educate!
Well, we are almost ready.
For those of you who might have been checking in on this site regularly in anticipation of the countdown clock reaching zero, only to see said countdown clock sit at "00:00:00:00" and no pay-off, I apologize. Establishing a non-profit is an entirely new ball of wax for me, and I have learned many important lessons along the way. For instance, insurance coverage is expensive and when you are a unique type of organization, the questions they ask in determining your coverage and premium are pretty amusing. No, I will not be taking the children to a horse farm. I'm sure they'd enjoy it, but the wifi is super sketch and the length of my extension cord isn't quite up to the task. I guess my point here is that there were a lot of administrative tasks that I anticipated being burdensome, but I was not quite sure when (or how) they would bubble to the surface.
Something like that.
Regardless, the good news is that nothing has felt insurmountable thus far. At every point that I have encountered a challenge, I've reminded myself of my goal, my passion for this project, and the benefit to our community. Suddenly, I found myself bursting with energy and capable of tackling anything...any "dang thang"...so long as it meant getting PixlScribes up and running. But let me be clear, this absolutely would not be happening without the support of my partners, family, and friends. Thank you so much to those of you who have lent your expertise, opinion, and connections in the community. And if you've offered up any of those and are still waiting to hear back from me, trust me...you are on my list, and I will be reaching out to you shortly! It is greatly, and deeply appreciated.
Let me tell you a little bit about PixlScribes. Some of you have heard a lot of this before, but it still might have felt a bit nebulous to you. I really feel as though the last several weeks has helped narrow our focus.
PixlScribes is an educational nonprofit developed for elementary school students in 3rd through 5th grade which leverages videogames to teach concepts in science, technology, and the arts. The current program is a six-week after-school workshop, and each workshop session runs about 75 minutes. In every session, students will be playing videogames, but the time devoted to playing games in each session is limited to no more than 20 minutes (often less). The bulk of the session time is devoted to hands on activities with the kids. Some of these activities include coding (using MIT's Scratch and resources available in Code Studio, for example), CAD, sculpture, painting, and composition. A bunch of 8-10 year olds are going to code their very own videogame, and I am going to get to witness it. How freaking cool is that?!
I am ridiculously excited about this project and its mission. Wait, let me try that again. I am ridiculously excited! And I am so very thankful that I am surrounded by others who are excited as well. It is so very cool to have a conversation with prospective partners who get it, and immediately recognize the value of this project. Thank you all for your passion, your energy, your support, and those positive vibes. Please keep it coming!
Okay, I think that's enough from me for now. I'll be updating this blog pretty regularly once a few lingering administrative issues have been addressed. Are you excited? Do you have any advice, recommendations, or contacts in the community you feel could be helpful? Please share by emailing me at raypatrick@gmail.com. Thank you!
All the best,
Patrick
