2021-2022 Year of Service Recap
Art Technically is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes STEM and arts education for K-12 students through in-person and virtual workshops, free and open-source curricula and teacher resources, STEM and Arts projects serving special interest groups, educational programming for K-12 students, and advocacy for the importance of STEM and Arts Education, because STEM and the Arts are integral components of a well-rounded education and also tend to be the most underserved subjects for low-income and disadvantaged students.
This school year with Art Technically, I held coding workshops where students created Valentine’s Day cards in rural Tipton County, at the Museum of Science and History at the Pink Palace in Memphis, and for my university’s 26th annual Black Families Technology Awareness Day, and this year I delivered 2,100 Valentine’s Day cards to homebound seniors through Memphis’ Meals on Wheels program and Franklin County’s Kiwanis Club. This school year, I led two new special projects: ‘Science Bears’ provides teddy bears in scientist-themed costumes to children in need, and ‘Science Suitcases’ provides disadvantaged K-8 school libraries with STEM and STEAM books. Since August, I’ve sewn and delivered 27 Science Bears to the Memphis Child Advocacy Center, which provides care for child abuse victims; delivered Science Suitcases to Title 1 and rural schools in all 9 Tennessee congressional districts; delivered 40 diverse scientist and artist Barbie dolls to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital, and the Southern Tennessee Medical Center; reached over 1,000 K-12 students through workshops, participated in the annual Tennessee STEAM Festival with the Museum of Science and History in Memphis, served as a school funding ambassador for Tennessee Department of Education, and presented at the 2022 Tennessee STEM Innovation Summit held by the Tennessee Department of Education and the Tennessee STEM Innovation Network.
people impacted by STEM and Arts outreach
Valentine's Day cards delivered
STEM and STEAM books donated
Science Bears delivered
STEM and Arts workshop participants
Workshops
During the 2021-2022 school year, I taught STEM, STEAM, and Arts workshops to over 1,000 students across Tennessee and nationally including at Brighton Elementary in Tipton County (Title 1, rural), North Coffee Elementary in Coffee County (Title 1, rural), Toone Elementary in Hardeman County (Title 1, rural), the Memphis Museum of Science and History for the Tennessee STEAM Festival, Shelby Farms Park for National Look Up at the Sky Day, and for the 23rd annual Black Families Technology Awareness Day (BFTAD). I taught workshops on Creative Coding, Irish Dance, Astrobotany, Electronics, and Mixed Media.
Students at a coding workshop at North Coffee Elementary School in Coffee County, Tennessee.
Irish Dance workshop during St. Patrick’s Day week at Brighton Elementary School in Tipton County, Tennessee.
Growth chamber demonstration with workshop materials for the Astrobotany workshop at the 23rd annual Black Family Technology Awareness Day (BFTAD)
“Jitterbugs” electronics workshop for National STEM and STEAM Day at Brighton Elementary School in Tipton County, Tennessee.
Projects
Science Suitcases
“Science Suitcases” provides K-12 schools with ‘suitcases’ of STEM-themed books and educational materials to help students explore unique and interesting STEM topics while practicing their literacy skills. This school year, I curated and delivered Science Suitcases for Title 1 schools in each of the nine congressional districts of Tennessee.
Space-themed Science Suitcase for Northwest Middle School in Knoxville. Northwest Middle has 854 students, 89% of which do not meet state-set math proficiency standards, 85% of which do not meet state-set reading proficiency standards, and 47% of which receive free or reduced lunch.
During the month of December 2021, I held a book donation drive with PAC Housing collecting brand new STEM and STEAM books for the Science Suitcases Project. Over 100 children’s books were collected and have been delivered across Tennessee.
I delivered a STEAM-themed Science Suitcase delivered to Brighton Elementary School in rural Tipton County. Brighton has 755 students, 62% of which receive Free or Reduced Lunch.
The Love Letters Project
“Love Letters” is a workshop that teaches students introductory coding through creating greeting cards. The cards are themed to a season, usually Valentine’s Day, and are printed and donated to senior meal delivery services. These ‘love letters’ help students learn to code and participate in a service project that helps bring joy to disadvantaged seniors.
For Valentine’s Day 2022, I delivered over 2,000 Valentine’s Day cards to seniors through the Metropolitan Interfaith Association’s Meals on Wheels program in Memphis and the Kiwani’s Club of Franklin County’s homebound seniors Valentine’s Day gift program.
I delivered 1,800 Valentine’s Day cards #MadeWithCode to Memphis seniors through MIFA’s Meals on Wheels program. In 2016, as Miss Tipton County’s Outstanding Teen, I delivered 300 Valentine’s Day cards to Memphis seniors through MIFA.
I taught a Creative Coding workshop at Brighton Elementary School and taught these 4th and 5th graders how to code Valentine’s Day cards. All of their designs were printed and delivered to homebound seniors for Valentine’s Day 2022.
Here, a student codes a Valentine’s Day card on a Creative Coding Platform. I wrote the Creative Coding lesson plan on ArtTechnically.org which is free and open-source for all educators.
I delivered 300 Valentine’s Day cards #MadeWithCode to homebound seniors in Franklin County through the Kiwanis Club of Franklin County.
Science Bears
“Science Bears” is a special Art Technically project that creates scientist-themed teddy bears for children in need such as children at Child Advocacy Centers and family shelters. Last year, I sewed costumes for and delivered 27 Science Bears to the Memphis Child Advocacy Center which provides care and support for victims of child abuse. I also photographed each of the themed scientist teddy bears doing their ‘scientist job’ to promote STEM careers.
You Can Be Anything: Scientist and Artist Barbie Doll Donations
For the 2021 holiday season, I curated and delivered a set of diverse scientist and artist Barbie dolls for Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis and Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville.
The Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital serves children across Middle Tennessee and I hope their kids were inspired by these dolls representing a wide variety of scientist and artist careers including Music Producer Barbie (Career of the Year 2021), Astronaut Barbie, Dentist Ken, and Astronomer Stacie!
Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis is a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital serving kids in and near the Memphis metropolitan area (TN-MS-AR). About half of the Memphis metro area is black/African-American, so Le Bonheur requests multi-ethnic dolls on their Top 10 Donation Needs to help the kids they serve feel represented in their toys! We at Art Technically hope these 17 Barbie dolls (and a few Black Panther/Spiderverse toys) help the kids of Le Bonheur see themselves represented in the scientist and artist career fields these Barbies represent!
Advocacy
As a School Funding Ambassador for Tennessee’s Department of Education, I collected comments from parents, educators, and community members on Tennessee education funding for a steering committee of legislative leaders creating a new student-based funding formula in Tennessee.
I visited the U.S. Department of Education to talk about STEM, STEAM, and Arts education and celebrated the anniversary of Title IX on their social media.