SparkFun Heads West!
We're embarking on a tour of the Western USA! Can we sleep on your couch? (Not really)
SparkFun's Department of Education has spent a great deal of 2012 on the road. In fact, we've all just returned from a national blitz where Amanda had a workshop in Texas, Linz and Jeff were in Washington, D.C., followed by workshops in South Carolina. All preceded by meetings in the Northeast and all in the space of about a week -- things are busy for us!
We are traveling a lot to support the Inventor Kit LabPack, as well our other classroom kits. Our goal is that when a teacher makes the effort to put Arduino in their classrooms, we want to be able to help train them on the basic skills needed to get things rolling.
We spent nearly a month out East - and now we're heading to the West!
Ever since our East Coast tour this spring we've been looking to put together dates on the West Coast. Last week we secured the RV for this adventure. We have a sweet 28' RV and we'll set out from Boulder on October 12th for a circuit of the western United States.
If you've ever thought I wish I could get SparkFun to come do workshops where I live, we want to hear from you. Because we're doing this through our education initiative, we're particularly interested in teachers who would like to get embedded computing into their classrooms but have been shy about doing it without some hands-on training. This is what these trips are all about. We love to spend time with the community, both teachers and students, and we know it's tough to travel. So give us a shout at education@sparkfun.com, we'll do our best to try and find a way to work things out.
Our rough schedule is as follows:
- Southern Arizona - October 14-16
- Los Angeles - October 17-19
- San Jose - October 19-20
- The Bay Area - October 21-24
- Portland - October 25-27
- Seattle - October 28-30
- Western Washington, Idaho, Montana - October 31 - November 3
- Wyoming - November 4
We have open dates and a little flexibility around this, so feel free to email us about what you might like to do. These road trips are always amazing and we expect this one to be the best one yet. Hope to see you soon!
Please! Please! Please stop in Boise, ID!!!!!
I second that!
Is there a specific Boise that might be a good fit?
Boise Idaho. If you are talking about a venue to host you try the Discovery Center at www.scidaho.org or perhaps the Reuseam at reuseum.com.
Come to Australia?
That's... A bit further west.
It's also east!
Um, it's also just a teensy weensy bit South last time I checked :S
That's so far West, it's Tomorrow! (i.e. Across the date line.)
I volunteer! (waves hand wildly)
Hi all! Honestly, we'd like to send SparkFunion educators to all the places. So if we missed you last time or this time around know that these are prototypes... we'll try to be back with a second rev for people we missed the first round and ideally an additional layer of concepts for those already familiar. @Materdaddy- of course San Diego gets love! We just went to ISTE there. Your city is almost excessively beautiful.
How come you're not coming to Vancouver BC? It's only a 3-4 hour drive from Seattle...
I heard something about international borders and passports and such.
That sounds great !!! Sparkfun is expanding like anything to serve the people. Thanks.
Boise.
Boise???
You should come up a little further north of Seattle to Vancouver, BC!
Can't wait to see you guys when you come to portland!!!!
Come to the midwest please!
Is "Western Washington" a typo? It seems that Eastern Washington would fit better with "Idaho, Montana". On the other hand, please make some more stops in western Washington! I could get a few people interested over here...
Where in West Washington/ Idaho will you be (I assume Boise/Pocatello)? For me, thats a 0-3 hour trip!!! PLEASE COME HERE!
What are you calling Southern Arizona? Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma?
We are scheduled with a day in Chandler right now, with another possible in Tucson.
Typo in the photo caption.
While I don't live in Idaho or Wyoming, I love that these states are included. Nice work keeping the mountain west included! It makes me think that only with open source/minded groups like Sparkfun can education spread like butter. Thanks!
Yes, usually no love for idaho. WHICH SUCKS CAUSE I LOVE SFE!!! ;)
San Diego gets no love?
Nice work!
Feel free to add Fargo, ND to your list (or a midwest tour!) :(
Yes defiantly! Come to South Dakota!
A midwest tour would be awesome. Come to Wisconsin!
Where should I send this email? What department?
Edit: I feel stupid. education@sparkfun.com