The 2013 Bay Area Maker Faire is over, and Hacker Scouts had a great time! Word on the street was that 120,000 tickets were sold (could not confirm this at the time of writing), and we certainly saw a lot of those families come by our booth!

At the booth, we ran two projects: a edited version of the Tiny Matrix, to illustrate how numbers can create pictures, and a LED and plastic mold making project that resulted in small Hacker Scout robot heads that light up! Both were very popular and gave visitors a chance to learn something new. Our booth was primarily staffed and run by the kids from Guild 001 (with some help), who were enthusiastic in sharing their Hacker Scouts experience with others. The Hacker Scouts staff were also present, and enjoyed talking to families and professionals about our vision. We also got to meet up with Matt (Leader of Guild 011 in Nashville), Joanne (Leader of Guild 015 in South Orange County), and Pierce and Catherine (Leaders of the Seattle Open Lab)- wonderful to see them in person! Also, a special thanks to Melissa and Kandy (Leaders of Guild 002 South Bay) for their continuous help all weekend.

Saturday, Executive Director Samantha Cook, and Director of Guild Development Garratt Gallagher spoke on the Maker Education Stage about Hacker Scouts in a larger context. We had a great attendance with lots of questions, and the idea of creating a new system of education seemed to resonate with many. We really enjoyed the opportunity to not just talk about how our program works, but to spend lots of time discussing why it works and why we are approaching STEAM Education in a new way. Samantha also sat on a panel Saturday evening, to share her experience as a woman in the Maker Movement. She fielded lots of questions specifically about engaging and empowering girls to become Makers. Over at the Cognizant booth (our funder for Oakland Open Lab), Chris led a workshop on the science and construction of nesting boxes on Saturday afternoon. In particular, with so much technology emphasis all around them, many families expressed their appreciation that we brought in a project that focused on basic construction skills with an environmental science emphasis.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Hacker Scouts booth, both familiar and new faces alike! We hope to see you soon at one of our programs!