We at TechPoint Foundation for Youth know our non-profit would not be successful were it not for the dedication of our amazing volunteers. We are so thankful for the involvement of community members and employees of our partners who spend their time assisting in our programming and events. With this being Volunteer Recognition Week, we wanted to highlight a stellar volunteer for her involvement in TPF4Y. See below for an interview with Rockstar Volunteer, Ashley Zappia.
How did you first become involved as a volunteer?
I first became involved as a volunteer with TechPoint through a friend of mine. He is a robotics coach at a local high school and helped to get the VEX Robotics State Championship off the ground a few years ago. I had worked with him on other STEM education volunteering events in the Indianapolis area, and when he mentioned that there was a need for judges at the elementary school level, I was eager to sign up for the experience!
Is there a specific impactful moment you can recall as a volunteer?
My first year as a VEX judge, one of the first student teams I interviewed was only two boys, but they really made an impact on me. One of them hand-wrote all of the coding for their robot while the other primarily focused on design. I was highly impressed with not just the work that they put into their robot that year, but their passion for science and robotics. That was the moment when I realized exactly how far youth robotics has come since I was in high school, and I knew that I wanted to continue to work with and advocate for it.
Photo courtesy of Bin Sun
Why do you feel youth robotics is important?
I feel that youth robotics is important because it provides students with a strong, fundamental understanding of basic technology, technical writing, and the overall scientific method. Additionally, it provides them with coaches and role models who actively nurture their creativity and curiosity, cultivating them into passions that last through to adulthood. It creates interest in usable skills for future education and employment while teaching them about teamwork, identifying the strengths of others, and communication skills in a way that other common activities can't. I recently had the awesome opportunity to tour a makerspace that was focused on STEM at one of the elementary schools in Lawrence Township and was completely blown away at how they were taking robotics and applying it to teaching other subjects. As I was leaving, one of the second-grade teachers was out in the hall, working with a small robot that she was using to teach her students cardinal directions and navigation. The implementation of youth robotics both in the classroom and as an extracurricular activity has more applications that we can relate to modern-day life scenarios than we can possibly imagine.
What inspired you to become a volunteer?
I love working with children and feel that a strong foundation of science and technology is a key investment not only on the individual level but is beneficial to society as a whole. When we all have an understanding of the way that our world works on a fundamental level, we are all speaking the same language, and I love being able to share my personal passions for STEM with children and see that spark of inspiration light up inside of them.
How would you encourage others to involve themselves as a TPF4Y volunteer?
Volunteering with STEM education-related events has been one of the most enjoyable and rewarding choices I have ever made. Whether it is an event that is interacting with kids for a few hours like with the May the 4th event, or a full day of work as a judge for the VEX Robotics State Championship, I can guarantee that it will leave a lasting impact on both you and the students that you work with. There is nothing more personally gratifying than being able to experience the unbridled excitement of children when they learn something new about a subject that they are already in love with. Being able to spend time with them and hear their stories about how they worked together to create something, learning together from their successes, failures, and even their teammates is an experience that is irreplaceable to both the students and the volunteers.
Thank you again to Ashley for taking the time to answer our questions. We are so thankful for her passion and involvement in our organization, as well as all our volunteers! If you’d like to get involved with future TPF4Y events as a volunteer, send an email to Andy@techpointyouth.org!