Killeen girl, 11, discovers love for robotics during spring break

Most children spend their summer vacation sleeping in, lounging by the pool or watching TV. That is, until Sylvan Learning Center’s new enrichment program Sylvan Edge came along. The new program has inspired students’ interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) related subjects.

11-year-old Patricia Rose attended an all-day Robotics and Coding camp during her spring break and discovered her love for robotics.

Robots are “cool because you can operate it to do what you want them to do,” she told the Killeen Daily Herald.

Through these classes, Patricia was able to sharpen her math skills, build robots from Lego pieces and then piece together pre-assembled code blocks to animate the machines. Once built, the machines were hooked up to a computer, but they were only as strong as their motors, she said.

These basic robotics programs are beneficial to children because they introduce students to the rapidly growing science, technology, engineering and math career fields, said Katie Reynolds, center director at Sylvan in Killeen, to the Killeen Daily Herald.

“They’re essentially understanding simple machines, pulleys, levers, and then they are able to apply all of that with the tinker software,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds continues to explain that students leave the camp understanding abstract concepts, like weight and speed, and the building blocks of animation. Killeen’s Sylvan Learning Center offers summer camps, as well as general tutoring.