East Bay middle school students create and showcase businesses at FabLab camp

RICHMOND, Calif. - Start-up businesses are taking over Kennedy High School on Thursday as students showcased the businesses they designed, budgeted and manufactured for their last day of the FabLab SparkForce Summer Camp in Richmond. 

Twenty-nine middle school students in grades 6–8 from across the West Contra Costa Unified School District have spent the last two weeks at summer camp not learning about building canoes or friendship bracelets, but instead learning about business planning and digital manufacturing. 

The experience has led to each student designing their own mobile truck concept and laser-cutting their own 3D-designed key chains.

An eighth grader named Philip described to KTVU what his mobile truck business does. 

"We would tell you what to do when you encounter an animal or if you want to put it back where it was or help it. This truck would serve that purpose," he said. 

FabLab SparkForce Summer Camp 

What we know:

According to the WCCUSD news release, the FabLab SparkForce Summer Camp is a part of SparkForce's National Building Giants initiative that works to introduce students ages 12 to 16 to careers in maritime manufacturing with hands-on project-based learning.

"We asked them, identify a problem in your community, and they really took it seriously," said the WCCUSD education services coordinator John Iwawaki.

David Solomon, a sixth grade student, said that a problem he found was inaccessibility to technology. 

"Technology is necessary," he said. "So, I thought, how about I send out a little rental truck to rent technology to people?" 

Students created and presented their ideas, such as a mobile pharmacy convenience store that delivers goods to places in Richmond where the stores have closed. 

Seventh-grader Alliyah described her solution to this issue. 

"Most of the things you need are in regular shops, like CVS or 7-Eleven or that kind of stuff, so I thought this would be more a necessities kind of thing."

This year is a first-time partnership with the U.S. Navy Submarine program and SparkForce, which provided a $20,000 grant. 

Cheryl Cotton, the superintendent of WCCUSD, said that it's not just about the money, it's about providing these kids with varying experiences and careers. 

"It's not just philanthropic dollars, it's not just the funding," she said. "It's also allowing our kids to have exposure."

With this summer camp, students are taken on field trips with instructors to places such as the Rosie the Riveter Museum and other maritime sites, opening the doors to a wide range of careers.

It has also provided students with the opportunity to create projects they've never tried before. 

"Now with the camp and with all the technology, computer here, printer there, laser cutter there, vinyl cutter there and other stuff, I think I can do it," David said.