Can someone in the Irving TX area "draft" this young man?

[dtengineering]

The police should know how to tell if it is a movie bomb... you pull the red wire and it stops at 00:00:01

I mean, that's why evil doers put clocks on their bombs, isn't it... so that the good guys know when to pull the red wire?

Mind you, should I ever become a super villain, I'm setting all my bombs to explode at 00:00:02.

Jason

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Foster

Related, someone found on Amazon these $4 clock kits (with free shipping) and are sending them to the school.

Feel free to help start the STEM program there:

MacArthur High School
attn: Daniel Cummings
3700 N MacArthur Blvd,
Irving, TX 75062

That's hilarious, and awesome. Reminds me of the Nuts for Jericho campaign. I would love to see this take off in that way. If you really get the internet behind something and it takes off, you'd have enough sent over there to where every kid in the whole school district could build one!

[runneals]

I was talking with one of his friends on Facebook tonight (of course I shared this thread with him), and it sounds like they'll be looking to join an FTC team (I told him to contact the FIRST Senior Mentor Joe, so if you want them, better talk to Joe )!
Also thought I'd share what his friend told me about him (hope he doesn't mind, but it made me smile and restored my hope in humanity, which isn't that what FIRST is about?): "He's really good at engineering and robotics, he would always come up to me and we would talk about what he was working on, I really don't have the tools to do that, my soldering gun broke, But I do love learning about it."

[Greg Needel]

So just a couple of things that have happened today.

* We offered him a free membership to the Dallas Makerspace (we have a 17,000 sqft facility with everything you could imagine and 1,000 members.

*He was offered some free parts from at minimum AndyMark and REV (maybe others but I have no direct knowledge)

*I reached out to him and invited him to come visit 2848 ( I can't offer him a direct spot on the team as the administration would need to be involved but I am hopeful he considers our school if he transfers from his own)

We do want him to land on a team this year, but alot depends on what school he lands at. There are some options for starting new teams this year (FTC or FRC) but as many of you know there is alot that goes into that type of commitment. I feel confidant that we can get their registration covered if it is a new team, but I think it is likely he might land at a school which is already covered.

I personally would like to still form a team of some type at his existing (old school) as there is a cultural change that needs to happen there and having a team there would help with that quite a bit assuming there is enough interest.

I also know that he was offered a trip the Maker Faire in NYC next weekend and a trip to the White House (which he has accepted). I am sure there have been many other offers to help and that personally he will be fine. The main thing we all need to take away from this is that no matter how good many of us have it inside our own STEM celebrating communities, there are loads of places where students don't have an outlet. When your teams are planning community events and demos I urge you all to make sure that you consider doing demos for people who have little exposure to this kind of thing and make education and acceptance part of your message in addition to talking about your team. While many of us laugh at the notion that what he made was interpreted as a Bomb, we may be in the cultural minority. Just remember this is FOR INSPIRATION AND RECOGNITION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

I am proud to be part of this community that is so quick to help people in need, but lets use this incident as a spring board to continue our goals of culture change.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

I personally would like to still form a team of some type at his existing (old school) as there is a cultural change that needs to happen there and having a team there would help with that quite a bit assuming there is enough interest

I don't mean this as a dig at you, as I think what you're doing is great, but the culture change they need is to stop seeing any non-white person as a terrorist. It's got nothing to do with being more aware of STEM activities.

The problem isn't that they couldn't figure out he had a clock and not a bomb...it's that they saw a brown kid with both "Ahmed" and "Mohamed" in his name and freaked out because they're either subconsciously or outwardly racist/Islamophobic.

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by Cory

I don't mean this as a dig at you, as I think what you're doing is great, but the culture change they need is to stop seeing any non-white person as a terrorist. It's got nothing to do with being more aware of STEM activities.

The problem isn't that they couldn't figure out he had a clock and not a bomb...it's that they saw a brown kid with both "Ahmed" and "Mohamed" in his name and freaked out because they're either subconsciously or outwardly racist/Islamophobic.

Not to disagree with your analysis of the thinking (or lack thereof) behind these events, but I will suggest that gracious professionalism includes a lot more than just STEM. FIRST does a pretty darn good job of cultivating an inclusive, supportive environment for everyone.

Jason

[Greg Needel]

Originally Posted by Cory

I don't mean this as a dig at you, as I think what you're doing is great, but the culture change they need is to stop seeing any non-white person as a terrorist. It's got nothing to do with being more aware of STEM activities.

The problem isn't that they couldn't figure out he had a clock and not a bomb...it's that they saw a brown kid with both "Ahmed" and "Mohamed" in his name and freaked out because they're either subconsciously or outwardly racist/Islamophobic.

I agree with you 100% about the racial issues at play here and while I agree with you that those are the much bigger ones to solve. Unfortunately I don't think that I am qualified to be the one working to proactively change people's minds in that regards. I will support those efforts how I can, but that is a situation where I will follow but can't lead (besides by example of my personal actions).

On the other hand technical mentoring and training is something that I can help with, and where I feel like my efforts can have a bigger impact.

[cbale2000]

Ok, so when I first heard about this story I was totally behind this kid. Then I actually saw a picture of his clock...



So, I'll still think basically anyone who looked at this for more than 30 seconds should have been able to recognize that this was not, in fact, a bomb. That said, I think, had it been me, I would have found a different way to house the electronics. The metal "briefcase" was... less than ideal.

[/2cents]

[Kevin Sheridan]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

The metal "briefcase" was... less than ideal.

[/2cents]

The housing is just a pencil case. Its pretty much the ideal housing for a small electronics project that a high school freshman complete in less than a day...

[Roger]

Do you think that all those invites should also be going to the administrators? Sounds like they are the ones that need some education.

In other news I googled "movie bombs" and got a list of box office theatre failures. Is that what they are supposed to look like?

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

Ok, so when I first heard about this story I was totally behind this kid. Then I actually saw a picture of his clock...



So, I'll still think basically anyone who looked at this for more than 30 seconds should have been able to recognize that this was not, in fact, a bomb. That said, I think, had it been me, I would have found a different way to house the electronics. The metal "briefcase" was... less than ideal.

[/2cents]

The picture is deceiving in relation to the size of the case. it's 8.25" x 5.5" x 2.5" not really "briefcase" size. Its major dimensions are smaller than a sheet of paper (actually about half the size).

[Foster]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

That's hilarious, and awesome. Reminds me of the Nuts for Jericho campaign. I would love to see this take off in that way. If you really get the internet behind something and it takes off, you'd have enough sent over there to where every kid in the whole school district could build one!

Yep, I sent 5 kits worth, lets hope they get to someone and not the trash.

Originally Posted by cbale2000

So, I'll still think basically anyone who looked at this for more than 30 seconds should have been able to recognize that this was not, in fact, a bomb. That said, I think, had it been me, I would have found a different way to house the electronics. The metal "briefcase" was... less than ideal.

Right it is a makeup case that you can get online or at Target. I have a pair of them. One has Arduino stuff in it (board, shields, cable, power brick, etc.) and the other has the stuff for a Raspberry Pi demo. They are small, sturdy and come in colors. (Blue is Arduino since the board is blue). They can bang around in the back of the car and not damage the electronics.

1/2 of the effort in any electronics project is trying to find a case, getting knobs mounted and labeled so it all looks nice. He took the time to put the school mascot on it. Evil Geniuses don't do that (ok,maybe a "shark with laser sticker", but never Left Shark)

[FrankJ]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

The picture is deceiving in relation to the size of the case. it's 8.25" x 5.5" x 2.5" not really "briefcase" size. Its major dimensions are smaller than a sheet of paper (actually about half the size).

So closed it looks like a little case. Not pressure cooker in a backpack. Open there is clearly no explosive or shards of metal that you would into a bomb. Maybe the electronics took up too much room?

[neshera]

I don't know why I didn't think of this when I started this thread, but for Heaven's sake don't let him join FRC Team 16!

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by neshera

I don't know why I didn't think of this when I started this thread, but for Heaven's sake don't let him join FRC Team 16!

You mean the Clock Squad?