Encore Learning has been invited to participate in a "Retirement Well-Being Fair at George Mason University's Fairfax campus on May 9. The event is intended to help GMU faculty and staff who are anticipating retirement.
The volunteer would staff a table from noon to 1:30 and explain what Encore Learning provides in the way of intellectual and social enrichment. The EL office will provide some collateral materials.
Please email Steve Shapiro at steve.shapiro31@gmail.com (or call 703-622-2760) if you can help out with this event.
Gomez, 12, is a member of the 4-H Club and he’s got a problem he thinks he can solve. What kind of invention would help him keep his sheep, Lamar, on a regular feeding schedule?
He’s a busy seventh-grader at St. Anne’s School and must dedicate a portion of his day to preparing Lamar for the year-end show and sale. Between school, 4-H and participating on St. Anne’s Academic Decathlon team, it’s a wonder that he has the time for his other hobbies. He’s also a tinkerer who take things apart and rebuilds them and dabbles in video editing too.
Luis Gomez and his sheep, Lamar. Photo – Jonathan Barenboim
Gomez got the spark for his invention after he visited the Porterville Unified School District’s (PUSD) Future Ready Lab, a classroom, makerspace, and engineering lab rolled into one. One day, he may create that invention and change farming forever.
“I know there’s automatic water feeders, but I haven’t seen any automatic feeders. Just regular feeders that can feed your animal when you need it to and take away food when it’s past the time for them to eat so that they learn to eat when they have their food,” Gomez told WorkingNation.
Qualcomm Senior Vice President of Engineering Susie Armstrong said Gomez’s idea exemplifies how the Thinkabit Lab and Qualcomm® World of Work(QWOW™) introduces kids to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by inspiring that spark of creativity.
Susie Armstrong. Photo – Jonathan Barenboim
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is a set of devices, like cars and smart cities and such, that are all connected and are all communicating. A great example, a great and real example, of the Internet of Things is Luis’s example of the sheep feeder,” Armstrong said.
Qualcomm is not only developing the world’s wireless infrastructure and the upcoming 5G network; it’s cultivating the next generation of inventors who will use that technology. The Thinkabit Lab shows them a future where they can play a vital role in building the tools which will connect everything.
