MSF Teen Tech Night Adapting in 2016
The 2016 Maine Science Festival is already shaping up to be an amazing event with the announcement of headliner Nate Silver and its expanded festival format. Another change to the 2016 fest will be a variation on one of its most popular events from 2015, Teen Tech Night.
“Teen Tech Night came from an existing program that takes place in Southern Maine and Augusta that is sponsored in part by the State Office of Information Technology.” Said Niles Parker, Executive Director of the Maine Discovery Museum which hosted last years Teen Tech Night event. “The idea was to introduce High Schooler’s to the various careers that are available in Maine in the I.T. and Tech fields.”
A few years prior, Parker and MSF Director Kate Dickerson, were asked to visit the Tech Night in Augusta in the hopes of bringing a similar event to the Bangor area. They immediately realized blending the tech night with the Maine Science Festival made a lot of sense. They also decided to expand to the Middle School Level and broaden it to become a Teen Tech Night (not just High School). In 2016, another change to the format is also being added, with two separate events being held simultaneously, one for Middle school and one for High School, but it is a change that Parker thinks will help the event tremendously.
“Last year’s event held at MDM on the first night of the MSF, was very crowded. We had a variety of events, stations throughout MDM: Scratch, Minecraft, computer coding basics, etc. But the age differences were too great and it was a bit chaotic. So next year we will expand the event so that everyone can take advantage.”
In 2016 Middle School Tech Night will remain at MDM; while the High School event will be held at the BangorY, with the content remaining largely similar to the 2015 event.