Roosevelt High Celebrates Tech-Palooza

The St. Johns Review. April 21, 2017

By Mark Hubbard

Roosevelt High School students recently celebrated Tech-Palooza, an event that highlighted the technology and engineering programs at the school. Students experimented with virtual reality equipment, demoed video games that they built, used robots made by students and participated in an engineering design challenge.

The event was held in the school’s new media center and library. It was Roosevelt's way of celebrating and recognizing the American Library Association’s Teen Tech Week.

“This event is designed to highlight students’ work, promote these programs and get kids interested in these classes,” said Betsy Tighe, Roosevelt’s Educational Media Specialist and coordinator of the event.

Tighe collaborated on the event with faculty from Roosevelt’s engineering, computer science, robotics and maker’s space classrooms. The teachers were on hand to assist students and answer questions. Engineering teacher Randy Scott weighed in on the event and how the expanding technology curriculum at Roosevelt prepares students for college and careers.

“This is an exciting time to be at Roosevelt,” said Scott. “The new engineering and maker spaces now allow us to articulate a number of college credits. Students will not only be prepared to succeed after graduation, but will already have a head start.”

Robotics and virtual reality a big draw.

The event attracted dozens of curious students. The robotics area challenged students to remotely navigate student-made robots, picking up objects and placing them in bins. The computer science section allowed for students to play with virtual reality equipment while others watched on a big screen. Students also demonstrated video games that they had designed in the classroom.

An especially engaging activity was the engineering design challenge, where students made tools to handle and dispose of “hazardous waste” (baseball-size balls) from a safe distance. Sophomore Nadia Tirado won the challenge prize even though she has yet to take an engineering class. Afterwards, she said she would probably now take some of the tech classes.

“Nadia is a good example of a student who was drawn into the event and is now interested in taking some of these classes,” said Tighe.

New media center and library.

The event also highlighted the new media center and library at Roosevelt. With high ceilings, arching windows and warm lighting, the space provides an open and airy atmosphere for such events. It is part of the $90 million construction and renovation project at Roosevelt.

The media center offers 24 computer terminals with access to dozens of databases for students to use throughout the school day. Three built-in overhead projectors with large screens that double as whiteboards are found along the walls of the space. Two display areas contain display cases and video screens for streaming content. One display area focuses on library activities while the other will focus on school history and the Roosevelt Alumni Association. The media center also contains three conference rooms and a classroom, each with projectors and multimedia capabilities.

In the center of all this high-tech media equipment sits some old-fashioned library content – over 10,000 titles of fiction, nonfiction, magazines, and reference books to help students with their courses and provide reading enjoyment.

“The media center is here to support the curriculum at Roosevelt,” said Thighe. “We do that through special events like Tech-Palooza and by just being here every day for the students and faculty.”

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Mark Hubbard is co-chair of the Roosevelt HS Site Council, a group of parents, students, teachers and administrators that work on curriculum, student issues and community outreach at the school.