While waiting in line at the Portland Car Show I snapped a photo of a Hot Rod not knowing that it was actually a project by a group of high school students. When I walked by the booth of a local AM station I saw these students talking about their hot rod project and listened for a few moments, they were really excited, and had alot to say about what they had learned and done.
This all reminded me of how empowering and important it is that schools encourage their students to work on real world projects. Why? Because, the students benefit greatly years after the project is finished, and the few extra resources applied to these students, get great returns for the school.
In high school I joined a three person independent study group doing robotics work. We had the same excitement and enthusiasm for working on robotics, that the Oregon State Linux Users Group has for Linux.
Anyways, this group attracted the attention of Newberg High School, whose robotic teams had been going to National conventions for years. In 2001 they wanted to do a PC based robot, but needed some programmers for this latest project. They decided to partner up with my group at Sherwood High, and I worked with them on two seperate projects.
Over the next two years I learned and experienced alot:
- Learned what real software development was
- Visited New York twice to compete in the RI/SME
- Wrote a magazine article for Servo Magazine
- Started working on independent consulting projects for USB
The school also got alot of love from the project. During all four years I took the robot to several shows, fund raisers, photo shoots, newspaper interviews and board meetings. Heck, I just noticed that the robot is still on the front page of Sherwood High Schools website.
They also provided the group with alot of resources, like some minor funding, and a small lab… hmm…
This all comes back to the OSLUG and our goal of getting permanent lab space and FOSS used in the computer science classes. Like my high school project and the Yuba County project we have an excited and enthusiastic group of students, and all we need now is some encouragement, and resources. The OSLUG has been doing some great things, and I think that with the support of the college it can do some amazing things.
But, I think that the last point is the most important. I was able to start working on the side for both Fascinating Electronics and Ron Reed eVentures/OHSU doing work with USB devices. Dean Adams wants to see entrepreneurs coming out of the department and I think that if it is going to come from anywhere it will come from the students of the OSLUG. When I started my work with the robotics project I had no idea that I would eventually write for a national magazine and do consulting, but had it not been for the help I had gotten from the school I would never had gotten these opportunities.