Favian Gomez is on a mission to share free coding and robotics resources with the students of the Little Apple. A junior with a rising profile at Manhattan High School, Favian was inspired to first explore coding in the fifth grade. He was captivated by BattleBots, the competition television series where robots battle in an arena. Due to the lack of free, local coding education programs, Favian began teaching himself to code using Scratch, a block-based coding language created at MIT.
Now a member of MHS's "Little Cyborgs" robotics team, Favian was motivated by this lack of opportunities in his childhood to expand robotics education to local elementary schools. To pitch his idea, Favian approached several elementary schools in person. Understanding the busy schedules of school principals, he believed this approach had a higher likelihood of success than competing for attention in their already crowded email inboxes. After receiving multiple rejections, his bold approach paid off, and Bergman Elementary welcomed the new club last year.
Receiving the green light to organize the club was the first step; funding the club was the next hurdle. Favian took the initiative to send out 130 fundraising letters to area businesses, receiving eight responses. Despite three polite declines, supporters like Koehler Orthodontics, BHS Construction, and Nico’s Little Italy provided the necessary funding for LEGO robotics sets. Favian credits his father for being the backbone of the initiative, offering advice and support throughout the school recruitment and fundraising process.
The Bergman robotics club, which uses a LEGO app for its projects, enables students to build and program their own LEGO robots. Initially, Favian planned to carefully guide each lesson, but he discovered that providing a framework and allowing the students to explore creatively yielded better results.
The club has quickly become a favorite among its attendees, which roughly represents the diversity of Bergman Elementary. Favian emphasizes the importance of gender balance, noting that about 40% of the club's members are female. "I was hoping to get good female representation," he says.
Favian has big hopes for the future. As the Youth Outreach Coordinator for MHS’s robotics team, he aims to expand the robotics club to 4-5 local elementary schools next year. Notably, some schools have already approached him to implement the program for their 3rd to 5th graders.
The impact of the robotics club extends beyond its attendees. Favian's friends who serve as the club mentors also benefit from the experience. By guiding the students, helping them debug their code, and witnessing their excitement as they explore, these mentors gain valuable teaching skills and a deeper understanding of robotics.
Favian has his sights set on attending MIT to become a mechanical engineer, but he remains open to many opportunities. He finds joy in bringing technical projects to life and hopes to pass leadership of the program on to one of the mentors after he goes to college. As Favian reflects on his experience in creating and leading the club, he feels proud of what he has accomplished and excited about the future of the program. "When I go to college and come back, I hope this is still thriving," he says.
"When I go to college and come back, I hope this (program) is still thriving!”