Throughout much of this summer, several of the middle school youth who participated in a local career and technical education (CTE) camp spent many a morning learning about, and executing, physics-related concepts while constructing and programming small robots.
Those hands-on lessons will soon culminate in what’s been dubbed “The Robot Olympics.”
This competition, scheduled to take place during the latter part of this week, will allow students who attended Brookland Middle School this summer to showcase their creations and demonstrate their knowledge of scientific theories, as taught by award-winning D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) teacher Dr. Rabiah Harris.
“They all had the same pieces to start with and they all had the same base of instruction that they chose,” said Harris, a 2024 D.C. Teacher of the Year finalist and STEM instructor in DCPS’ CTE Summer Enrichment Program. “The kids have really tried to make it their own, so I’m super excited to see them going against one another. Everyone loves a little competition.”
For the last three weeks, students under Harris’ tutelage experimented with robots before preparing for the competition. Along the way to creating these machines, they learned about velocity, torque and force as they cranked up the robots’ speed and assessed how much of a load they could carry.
Harris told The Informer that students also explored robotic structure and function as they anticipated the different environments the machine would have to navigate. She called it a learning experience that sparked students’ creativity while exposing them to a lucrative career field.
“Some kids didn’t even know how to take the pieces apart or put them together, so that was definitely a learning curve for some versus others,” said Harris, who’s entering her 21st year as a K-12 teacher. “Some people felt more comfortable in coding and some people felt more comfortable in building. It was nice to give them that taste and then introduce the Robot Olympics for the remainder of the program.”
Summer Enrichment: A Matter of Public Safety and College/Career Attainment
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and DCPS Chancellor Dr. Lewis D. Ferebee visited the CTE Summer Enrichment Program on the morning of July 17. For nearly an hour, the duo watched students play with their robots. They then asked students questions about their summer enrichment before Bowser watched, and later joined a student using a remote control to drive their robot across the floor and pick up a red-orange cube.
That visit, which took place more than a week after the passage of Bowser’s emergency juvenile curfew law, and several weeks after her mayoral order forbade the closure of educational facilities during the continuing resolution battle on Capitol Hill, provided the mayor an opportunity to speak about the bevy of local summer academic and enrichment programming.
“Look at this beautiful campus where we have kids who are engaged in robotics and [the summer] bridge program to middle school,” Bowser said. “It’s just an amazing opportunity. Over 12,000 of our kids are in a summer youth opportunity where they’re learning about careers, and learning and earning.”
This summer, young people between the ages of 9 and 24 have been participating in various programs, including: the CTE Summer Enrichment Program; the Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program (MBSYEP); Career Ready Early Scholars Program (CRESP); and a citywide service project coordinated by D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) and the Mayor’s Office on Volunteerism and Partnerships.
D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has also been hosting the Late Night Summer Hype series at recreation centers across the District. However, Bowser admitted there’s work left to be done— especially when it comes to engaging adolescents and young adults.
“We continue to want to have kids who are a little bit older who aren’t as interested in camp anymore to make sure that there are activities for them,” Bowser told The Informer.
In the age of social media, and what authorities call “teen takeovers” along U Street and in Navy Yard, Bowser said that all District institutions, governmental and otherwise, should be ready to serve young people.
“I think as a society, not just as a government, but as a community, it’s family, it’s churches, all of the other important institutions,” Bowser said. “We need to continue to think of ways to engage young people and give them the positive attention and feedback that they think they’re seeking.”
In total, 64 middle school students enrolled in DCPS’ career and technical education summer enrichment programs at Brookland Middle School and Ballou High School this year.
When not in the classroom, students who participated in the “Mastering Robotics” and “Mini-Medic” courses at Brookland Middle School went on field trips throughout the D.C. metropolitan area— including at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland, National Inventors Hall of Fame Museum in Alexandria Virginia, and the Air and Space Museum in Southwest.
This fall, these students will either start or continue their middle school education at Brookland— or a handful of other District public schools, including Ida B. Wells Middle School, Langdon Middle School, and Alice Deal Middle School.
If all goes according to education officials’ plans, students will graduate from high school within a matter of years and enter the workforce, likely with a college degree or certification in a technical career field.
Ferebee noted that, with the CTE Summer Enrichment Program, that career exploration can happen earlier.
“We want them to learn as much as they can over the summer in these enrichment programs, but also making the connections academically during the school year,” Ferebee said, “and then….begin thinking about the career pathway they want to pursue in high school in our CTE programs.”
Months after President Donald J. Trump entered office for the second time, District officials continue to adjust to a job market no longer dominated by federal government jobs. The public education sector, in conjunction with D.C. Department of Employment Services, the Workforce Investment Council, University of District of Columbia, and DPR, has been focused on how to connect District residents to family-sustaining jobs.
Ferebee said the same theory applies at the K-12 level. While he didn’t speak to long-term effects—such as college completion and attainment of an industry career— Ferebee told The Informer that officials have seen more immediate benefits.
“We know when our students are in career technical education programs, that their attendance is better, their grades better, and ultimately there are students that are prepared for what’s next when they graduate,” Ferebee said.
Ferebee, like Bowser before him, acknowledged the need to up the ante.
“For those students that go on to higher ed, we see a lot of success as well, but we don’t see everybody engaging the way that we would like,” Ferebee told The Informer. “And so that’s why we’ve been thoughtful about what students are interested in and also the career opportunities we have in the city and also in the region that we can connect students to.”
A District Parent Reflects on the Opportunities Abound
Ward 5 parent and DCPS alumna Shaniola Arowolaju relished in the growth she’s seen for MBSYEP since her adolescence.
Amid what she described as a dearth of daytime DPR and school-based summer programming, Arowolaju’s two youngest children are learning about STEM and AI as CRESP participants, all while getting paid.
“They’re really invested in getting up, getting to work on time, and they take the bus, so they get to work on their own, work their shift, and then get on the bus and come back home,” Arowolaju told The Informer. “So it was kind of giving them a sense of responsibility, some independence, in addition to them being a part of a program that allows them to explore AI and STEM while participating in some extracurricular activities.”
The program that Arowolaju mentioned— CRESP— has several host sites across the District, with her two youngest children attending the Trinity Washington University site in Northeast, which is sponsored by Carolina Canyon, Co., a local entity dedicated to eliminating poverty through financial literacy.
The siblings receive $125 per week to gain STEM instruction that they and their peers utilize in the completion of their capstone project. They also embark on field trips to the National Building Museum in Northwest, Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia, Bowlero and Urban Air Adventure Park.
Meanwhile, Arowolaju’s eldest child, in her second year as an MBSYEP participant, is increasing her leadership potential in the year-round Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute. For Arowolaju, her children’s summer experiences has, at the very least, kept her worries about idle time at bay.
“The older youth, 14 and up, had SYEP so I [was] concerned about the younger ones, like ‘What’s gonna keep them occupied during the summer?’” Arowolaju said as she extolled CRESP. “It’s just something that will keep them occupied and busy out of the streets, and not just idle at home playing video games, not being productive during the day.”
Instead, as she explained, her children are learning valuable life lessons— one early morning commute at a time.
“The opportunity to earn a wage and learn more about…what your parents do every day and the sacrifices that you have to make to be on time and getting up is an excellent segue into middle school, high school or potentially going to college and getting your own full-time job,” Arowolaju said. “I’m really appreciative of D.C. for providing this opportunity for our young scholars.”
