Romae T. Powell Juvenile Court – The Learning Club 5 Week Program

STEM Compass, Inc. implemented the first of its kind, a Robotics Program to first time offenders in the Juvenile Court System in The Learning Club (http://www.fultonjuvenilecourt.org/?q=node/17).

With close to 80% of first offenders returning to the Juvenile Justice system then on to more heinous crimes, diversion programs are non-existent in the Metropolitan Atlanta system.  One bright light is The Learning Club held at the Romae Juvenile Court System in Atlanta.  This program occurs every Saturday from 12Pm-3Pm where as part of their parole, young men and women from the ages of 8-18 must attend a minimum of  10 sessions.  The current programming through The Learning Club include Chess, Yoga, and discussion sessions with student volunteers from the Atlanta University Center.  In partnership with ATL Read, Inc., STEM Compass, Inc. began a 5 week collaborative program to bring Robotics, Computer Science in addition to Literacy objective to the young men and women involved in The Learning Club.  The 5-week program had the participants work in groups of two to build and program their robots. This program had tremendous impact on these young people.  Prior to our program, 53% of participants had little to no interest in STEM areas, whereas after the 5-week program, over 90% had an increased interest.  The power of STEM is far-reaching!