Best Buy Geek Squad involves Gary youth in STEM workshops
Using Lego figurines, chess pieces, and other small objects into characters for short films, dozens of Gary youth learned the basics of stop motion animation this week.
It was just one of the workshops held as part of a two-day “Geek Squad Academy” STEM program held at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana this week. About 70 children between the ages of 10 and 18 participated in the event.
Operated and funded by Best Buy and staffed by local store employees, the series of workshops aimed to teach STEM skills and get kids excited about the subject matter.
“We really want to enrich their lives through technology,” event manager Kevin Petersen told the Post-Tribune.
Best Buy has been running Geek Squad Academy events for over a dozen years, but this week marked the first time the program has been brought to Gary. In August 2022 the John Will Anderson Boys and Girls Club opened the Best Buy Teen Tech Center, which provides access to technology, instruction and mentorship to children interested in a variety of STEM-related pursuits.
An array of equipment, including a sound booth, mixing board, video studio, 3D printers and state-of-the-art computers, was supplied by Best Buy and the center was made possible through funding provided by The Damien and Katy Harmon Foundation, with support from local foundations and businesses. Damien Harmon was raised in Gary and is now the senior executive vice president of customer, channel experiences and enterprise services for Best Buy Co. Inc.
During another workshop, children were introduced to the video game-making software Godot through a problem solving exercise. The participants were presented with a rudimentary platformer in the vein of classic Super Mario titles with a series of bugs included in the code. They then had to fix each issue to make the software run properly.
“So if they’ve got a passion for game design, or they’ve got one for music we’ll take that passion the harness it and then point them in the right direction make sure that they have all the tools and the technology they need to be successful,” Petersen said.
The company has opened around 50 Teen Tech Centers around the country so far, with plans to reach 100 by 2025, he added.
