Wyoming libraries celebrated Teen Tech Week 2016 last week. TTW is when libraries make the time to showcase all of the great digital resources and services that are available to help teens succeed in school and prepare for college and 21st century careers. Here’s a sampling of what was going on around the state.
Fremont County Library – Lander hosted a Teen Tech Week Open House to showcase and reveal their new STEAM BOX program. In the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) BOX the library has new tools, resources, gadgets and products specifically for teens in the community: green screen and photography equipment, Little Bits Gizmo and Gadget set, iPad mini, Circuit Scribe, 3Doodler, Sphero 2.0, Watercolor Bot, and Manga and Anime creation studio, along with a laptop and tablet for digital drawing. Adults, children and teens all had a great time playing with the new STEAM BOX products during the open house.
“We see a lot of great projects, programs, clubs and events stemming from these new resources,” said Audie Cunningham, Lander Library young adult lead librarian. “We hope that the program will grow and spark new ideas for our teens as far as how they can utilize these resources at the library and at school.”
Riverton Branch Library held a Radioactive Youth Media Workshop for Teen Tech Week 2016.
Sublette County Library in Pinedale did a Throwback Tech Week. Teens could play with an Etch a Sketch, different Rubik’s Cubes, a Magic 8 Ball, and Simon (a touch-light game).
Campbell County Public Library encouraged teens to “Create It” in their corner creative space, with a variety of materials available: 3D printer pens, LittleBits circuitry modules, coloring books, and Legos. The library also held a contest to come up with a name for the corner space; the winner will be selected by the teen advisory board group later this week.