Maria, left, and Victoria, right, collaborate on their project at the New Tech Now event on Saturday.
Photo by Seth Johnson
Kids and volunteers met at Archer’s historical community center on Saturday to teach and learn about cutting-edge technology like 3D printing and augmented reality.
The event, through local nonprofit New Tech Now, taught kids to turn physical objects digital and create their own augmented reality scenes. The schedule also included a prize drawing and lunch.
Capital City Bank sponsored the event along with Duke Energy, the Children’s Trust of Alachua County, T-Mobile, the YMCA of North Central Florida and Motiv8u, who had volunteers to help out. Duke Energy also awarded New Tech Now with a $5,000 check to continue its summer STEAM program.
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Archer Mayor Iris Bailey said the community needs this type of programming and hoped Saturday’s program was just the start.
“Hopefully the kids will be able to take what they learned and build upon it at home and in the future workplace,” Bailey said in an email. “The intent of this program is to provide kids with skills they can continue to use at home.”
The 25 attendees received a drawstring goody bag with New Tech Now and Duke Energy’s logos on the front and electronic wipes, sticky notes, art supplies and virtual reality cases for phones.
Duke Energy representative Staci Bertrand said the event features one of the ways the company reaches for its goal of thriving communities, adding it will help develop skills needed for the workforce down the road.
“It’s important to foster those skills early, and that’s exactly what they’re doing,” Bertrand said.
Seth Johnson is a Mainstreet Daily News reporter based in Gainesville. He earned a degree in journalism and mass communication and served as editor-in-chief of his school newspaper. Seth is a bookworm and chess nerd, but he tempers these activities by playing sports and biking.