Robotic dogs, drones, laser scanners, and other tech was brought to Immokalee Middle School as part of the TechSpark Immokalee program.
The Microsoft-funded program is the first of its kind in Florida. Through a four-week program, 157 Immokalee Foundation middle school students gained practical experience with state-of-the-art construction technology this year.
Esmeralda Sanchez is the Middle School Program Coordinator at the Immokalee Foundation. The Foundations’ Career Pathways Program supports student professional development.
“For the students to really go kind of outside of Immokalee, be exposed, and visually see the technology that is out there, it really connects with our program, curriculum, career readiness,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez believes interacting with advanced technology at a young age can help students see careers, like construction, in a new light.
“They just see it as labor work outside and hammering things," Sanchez said. "But for them to be exposed, that it's just not that, that there's other technology, even our girls, I would say, we're really impressed of how technology takes part of construction now.”
In the rural, migrant community of Immokalee, students face a shortage of resources that might prepare them for the ongoing digital transformation that’s reshaping various industries.
To help bridge this gap, the Immokalee Foundation partnered with The Collier Industrial Development Authority and Florida Gulf Coast University to make the TechSpark Immokalee program a reality.
FGCU professor Dr. Daniel Linares is the Microsoft TechSpark Immokalee Fellow and lead instructor. For him, he says the most gratifying aspect of teaching was introducing students to unfamiliar technological tools.
He describes the student reaction to seeing a robotic dog during one of the sessions.
“They were really interesting, like, I mean, we did it's kind of like, just basic things," Linares said. "Walking around, but even just that actually was really fascinating for them. So seeing that spark of their interest in this technology was really worth it for me, I think.”
The sight of a laser scanner in action also left everyone astounded. Dr. Linares created an activity where students used a tape measure to manually calculate the dimensions of the cafeteria. What took them tens of minutes to complete took Dr. Linares' laser scanner less than 10 seconds.
"You just imagine students counting, like one by one," Linares said. "Recounting just in case, and also measuring the size of the tiles. With the device, it's just the computer and that's it. So [it calculates] very quickly."
Linares describes how seeing tools function in real life enhances comprehension of the advantages associated with the technology.
"They actually were able to see what that device creates, which is a bunch of points that represent information," Linares said. "And then [they were able to see] how easy is to just take the measurement in the computer, for one person and how that compares to the activity with the tape measures."
Uri is a middle school student who participated in TechSpark Immokalee’s first cohort. He aspires to be a business manager and says the program gave him access to tools he would have never learned about before.
“I've never know anything about these tools and how they help with construction," Uri said. "It's making it more fun for me by giving me more opportunities like, options for a career that I want to do in the future. Giving me more knowledge of the career, and maybe that knowledge can help me get a degree.”
For middle school student Karol, being part of TechSpark Immokalee had other benefits, too.
“I think that I learned a lot of new social skills like how to work together with people, how to talk with them, how to keep harmony among the group to make sure that we all do what we should," Karol said. "I think that this would benefit us whether in school or at work.”
Karol offers advice to other middle school students who might not believe a program like TechSpark could benefit them now and for years to come.
"Even if you're not a fond of going to any program or you don't think you'll like it, you should still go into it," Karol said. "Because even if you end up not liking it, you're still going to come out with a new piece of information or something new that you learned, and it could benefit you in the future."
While the community impact of TechSpark Immokalee cannot be numerically measured just yet, Esmeralda Sanchez said the knowledge students gained has a power of its own.
“Our students are not really used to, or they don't really have the opportunity to explore a program like TechSpark," Sanchez said.
"The knowledge that they gather from the sessions, you know, they're able to bring it back home to their parents, to their siblings.”
The TechSpark Immokalee program is funded for two years and will continue in 2025.
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