The six-week summer robotics program — which launched in June 2021 — came at no cost for its 10 participants , thanks to funding from government grants . Each participant was sent a Dell computer and a Sphero ball prior to the start of the program and was asked to meet remotely four times a week for a little over an hour .
Zaide Pasion , 17 , and Emanuel Valdivieso , 15 , both local high school students , enrolled in LNESC Oxnard ’ s summer robotics program in 2021 . Each student discovered the program through the Upward Bound Channel Island ( UBCI ) website and email updates . UBCI is a pre-college preparatory program administered by LNESC Oxnard and funded by the U . S . Department of Education . “ I ’ ve always been interested in STEM and anything that relates to coding and engineering ,” says Pasion . “ As a girl , I think this was a very good opportunity . The robots were given to us , so everyone had the same resources . I felt there was nothing to lose if I joined .”
Throughout the program , the students learned about coding basics , coding blocks and writing JavaScript . At the end , students were asked to program their Sphero ball to deliver a “ pizza ” from their school to Cruz ’ s home . Several students took the opportunity to get a bit creative with their programming and even coded an image of a pizza to appear on the ball ’ s LED matrix . But , most of all , the project came with important lessons .
“ I ’ ve always been interested in STEM and anything that relates to coding and engineering . As a girl , I think this was a very good opportunity . The robots were given to us , so everyone had the same resources . I felt there was nothing to lose if I joined .”
— Zaide Pasion , student enrolled in LNESC Oxnard ’ s summer robotics program in 2021
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