Finally in a city that sleeps just about as much as we do

We finally made it to a city that sleeps just as much as we’ve been sleeping these past few months - which is to say, it doesn’t. All our waking hours, though, have been filled with some pretty amazing adventuress from mingling with Colin Powell, Mitt Romney, Walter Issacson and Arne Duncan (who admitted to following us here from DC) to being on MSNBC with Aspen friend Andrea Mitchell, to giving impromptu machine demos to friends and passers-by on a street corner in Williamsburg. 

In one day we went from this:

and this:

to this:

(This was a completely random person’s apartment by the way)

All these incredible experiences only strengthen our desire to make sure SparkTruck sticks around for future students and future summers, so we’ve begun talks with different partners that might help us take the project forward.  More on this soon.

But to catch you up on what we’ve been up to since last we updated you all in DC after meeting Secretary of Education Arne Duncan…

…we returned to Baltimore for a quick stop off at Betascape - a gathering of the local tech+art community and met some decidedly awesome people. 

From here, we headed up to my uncle’s place in New Jersey to spend time with my two cousins - but not without stopping for some cheesesteak first!

For the record, Geno’s won our taste test with a split decision of 2-1 (me being the lone person with correctly tuned taste buds).

Saturday was spent recharging, relaxing, and running a quick mini-workshop with my two awesome cousins and some of their friends and neighbors. Here’s a e-card they sent us after our visit:

We finally headed into the city for NBC’s Education Nation Summit, where we got to hear a bunch of pretty awesome people talk about how we can change the culture of education in the country.  We were especially encouraged to hear a number of people (including Stanford’s very own Carol Dweck) talk about the importance of teaching grit, persistence and growth mindsets – all things we’re trying to impart through our prototyping-focused workshops.

We also got frisked by the Secret Service, because this guy decided to show up.

But we also got to see other parts of the city too. We made a stop at Columbia again with more fun DFA folks…

Marveled at the lights in Times Square…

And met up with all sorts of people all over the city using this magical device (special shoutouts to TED-Ed & The New School’s DIY Cultures class who trekked all the way to Brooklyn to visit our truck):

Despite our lack of sleep, we’re still energized to continue imparting prototyping skills in schools across the country, and are more convinced than ever that this is a project worth continuing and an idea worth sharing with more people.  

We’re currently at Brooklyn Prospect Charter school where we got even more energy as we participated in a world fitness jam and did lunges for 5 minutes

Though I’m pretty sure these students were just super pumped about the awesome creatures they created.

We’ve got a workshop in Eugene’s old neighborhood soon, and a workshop at the United Nations International School tomorrow, but we’re definitely glad to be here, doing what we’re doing and meeting awesome people.  We’ve been getting a lot of encouragement for what we’re doing over the past few months, and it really gives us hope that change is happening. 

- Jason