Kids who dream of designing the next big video game or creating a fighting robot will be excited to learn there’s a new STEM institute made just for them in Novi.
AccelerateKID provides instruction through schools, summer programs and their own institute, the newly opened TechEd Innovation Center. The center’s program is designed for kids with a desire to learn more about coding, robotics, game design or digital arts.
“In a nutshell, we are an incubator and accelerator for grades K-12 with four different tech centers – robotics, coding, game design and digital arts – and our through line is entrepreneurship,” says Q Do, the executive director.
Do took control of the center four years ago, though he’s been involved in the education technology sector for most of his career.
“I’m passionate about technology education in general,” he says. “I have 11 siblings, and we all learned differently – I wanted to get into technology education because I think it’s so powerful.”
The program is perfect for kids with big imaginations, but who need a bit of help to actualize their goals, like Anthony, a middle schooler who wanted to use his 3D printing passion for a good cause.
“We had a middle schooler, Anthony, who came in for 3D arts and java script because he wanted help creating a website,” Do says. “He sold the 3D trinkets he was making on the website and gave 100 percent of proceeds to a Ukrainian relief fund.”
Entrepreneurship is embedded in each of the four learning segments, says Do, and it’s a way to allow kids to learn the actions needed to make their ideas into a reality. The center also focuses on cooperation between the different STEM areas.
“Our space has four different technologies in four rooms, and the students are able to cross pollinate projects together,” Do says. “If a person in coding is interested in robotics, during the course duration and on the final project they can work together.”
Kids are able to branch out and discover the ways their specific interests intersect, much like how incubators, startups and accelerators operate in major tech cities like San Francisco – an environment that Do knows well.
“I worked in advertising and marketing in 1997 and during that time I noticed startups and things in California,” he says. “I borrowed my mom’s minivan, picked up my sister and landed in San Francisco.”
“I worked at 3 or 4 startups in the tech ed space, did my own startups, my own company, one got acquired, then just five years ago I came back here to help support my mom,” he adds.
While working ideas through different disciplines is one goal of the center, getting kids out into the real world to showcase their talent and compete against their peers is another top priority, says Do.
There are three-month courses available to prepare students for competitions like the Rocket League Championship Series, Michigan Invention Convention, Robofest & Roboparade and the 48 Hour Film Challenge.
“It gives them real world feedback, then they take that feedback and improve their product or service and they go back to compete,” Do says.
The weekly sessions cost $45 and last 90 minutes. The center is located at 24404 Catherine Industrial Road, Suite 316.
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