TechTown learning day
What: One-day technology campWhen: Monday, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.Where: Bessie Smith Cultural Center, 200 E. Martin Luther King Blvd., ChattanoogaCost: Free, no registration requiredQuestions: contact@gotechtown.org
TechTown, the youth-focused technology and entrepreneurial learning center, next week will start giving Hamilton County a taste of what it plans to offer this summer in the space it's outfitting in the Chattanooga Lifestyle Center.
On Monday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the nonprofit organization will host a free technology camp at the Bessie Smith Cultural Center in Chattanooga. It's open to anyone but tailored to those ages 7 to 17. The event is a chance for people to play with robotics and see how electronics work.
Also, starting next week TechTown will come to schools throughout Hamilton County to work with students on tech-related activities such as coding, robotics and circuitry. TechTown plans to visit 20 schools in 20 weeks. Each week it will go to a school for one hour and meet with a group of students. Schools will round up students independently.
"It's as if they were coming to TechTown," said Chad Bullard, the organization's executive director.
Rivermont Elementary will be the first school.
TechTown is the brainchild of leadership and business executive Paul Cummings. It's scheduled to open in June in the Chattanooga Lifestyle Center on Market Street and should be able to host up to 400 people at a time.
Plans call for more centers to open in other cities in the next year or two. In November, Cordell Carter II, a former chief of staff for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was named CEO of TechTown Global.
TechTown's summer camp program is expected to be held in its Lifestyle Center location. The camps run for one week at a time, June 29-Aug. 7. For more information, check gotechtown.org/summer2015.
Contact staff writer Mitra Malek at mmalek@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6406. Follow her on Twitter @mitramalek.