Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show! - TEDx

The Maker Movement and Me: 4 years and still failing awesome!

Super-Awesome Sylvia — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 19:45:19 +0000

Hey there peeps! In case you didn't know, My name is Sylvia and I’m a 12 year old girl from Northern California, and I've been making this Super-Awesome webshow all about how to make cool stuff since 2010, from paper rockets, to Arduino microcontrollers, to weird and sticky slime. I even try to show awesome experiments, and visualize how stuff works, or the science behind it. I really got inspired to get into making this show and the maker movement by going to Maker Faire, this huge event where thousands of people come to see or show off amazing things they have made. If you haven't heard about it, check out the info here, or see my first Maker Faire Episode.

Before going to my third Maker Faire when I was 8, my dad and I wanted to bring something cool to show off, but we weren’t very good at making real things, so we decided to make a show! I sung the theme song, we made a lab coat, I ran around and did crazy stuff for the intro, and then I built a kit and experimented with it for everyone to see. When we finished, I drew up my very own business card that we then handed out at Maker Faire only a few days later. I got noticed by a bunch of cool people, and by Summer I was doing shows for Make Magazine online, and less than a year later, I was on the cover of Make Magazine! People around the country were asking me to come talk (TEDx Redmond, TEDx San Jose), teach (CMK, STEAM Day), or just be there and make things with them. It was crazy!

"I want more people to become less focused on success, and more on just trying new things outside their comfort zone."

Now that I’ve done a lot, and gone to a lot of places, like Kansas city, New york, and even outside the US because of the show I've done, I've learned so much about persistence, drive, and... frustration. Recently, I went to TEDx San Diego and I did a talk! It was so cool to be there and meet so many awesome people, but the talk itself on stage was crazy hard to do! I practiced so much and did it perfectly off stage, but actually being on stage is completely different... and I forgot most of my talk.

I completely failed and got everyone confused, but I got my message out. I learned a lot and I even got a standing ovation just by being honest about how hard it was! I was so happy to know that the audience understood that I want more people to become less focused on success, and more on just trying new things outside their comfort zone. People stop themselves, and get stuck on that first step. Making and creating is one of those things that people need that little push of inspiration to get them started. That’s where I think I can come in. I really want my shows to be a resource for kids or adults (and especially girls) who are still stuck on that first step, and need a little push.

The first baby steps are hard, only because it’s your choice to take them and then to deal with the fact that you might not be very good at first. And sometimes girls who might want to get into electronics or making things can sometimes get stuck because they think it’s only for boys... and that SUCKS! And sometimes they think they'll look uncool or stupid in front of their peers. WRONG! Ignore them, anything you create is unique and your own, even if you copied some part of the idea and built on it, everyone starts from something.

I hope all you peeps reading have been inspired, and maybe gotten that tiny little push you needed. Always remember if you’re ever bored or need to get out of your chair, just get out there and make something!!!!! And don’t be sad if it doesn’t work or you totally fail, I’m proof that it’s never the end when that happens, only the beggining of you getting better.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!! SLAMACOW! TOPS-BLOOBY!

Tags

Maker Movement, home, TEDx, Super-Awesome, adventure, TEDx San Diego

A Maker Summer to Remember 2013: Part 2

TechNinja — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 08:55:37 +0000

Such a summer has been had this last year by us, it’s taken nearly 6 months to get an update. Busy doesn’t start to cover it!

With the creation of her incredible WaterColorBot, Sylvia then launched her Kickstarter to make it into a kit for everyone to enjoy, which then launched her on a tour around the world. Picking up where we left off back in July, just from momentum we breeze past Summer and on into Winter:

August 10th: Riding the wave of her success at the White House Science Faire in April, Sylvia was given a full scholarship to NASA Space camp, flew across the country on her own, had an incredible, unforgettable time, and even got a custom made NASA twitter badge which she now proudly wears on her lab coat.

Sylvia says: "It was really really fun! I got to meet so many cool friends, and I went on the multi-axis trainer and spun around, but didn't get dizzy. I also did two awesome missions where I was one of the ISS commanders and did a bunch of experiments, and another where I was doing moon mission control in the future. I am totally going back as soon as I can!!"

August 15th: We made it! With the community's help, we demolished our goal of $50k to raise nearly $90k towards the WaterColorBot project. Now in December and January, bots are shipping and backers are getting their hands dirty with robots, CNC, and watercolors!

Sylvia says: "WOO HOO! So happy and excited to finally complete the Kickstarter so bots could get out to people. Thank you everybody who contributed to make this goal happen, and for those that got one, hope you liked the cards I made :) "

August 17th: After her return flight from Space camp, we stopped off at Boing Boing: Ingenuity with the WaterColorBot. In the first hour we formed the most incredible team in the universe, with me, Sylvia, Joe Grand, and Ben Krasnow, proceeded to create a Ford XC controlled Water Color Painting hack. We then won first place grand prize (a MakerBot Replicator 2) totally by accident, and freaked out.

Sylvia says: "I still can't actually believe we got the grand prize! I had total blast with Joe and Ben, who are unstoppable incredible uber-makers and I can't wait to do more awesome stuff with them!"

October 10th: After a quick invite, Sylvia was incredibly pleased to attend and talk to young girls at Intel to celebrate the international day of the girl! She talked all about the incredible journey she’d taken, did some Maker Makey experiments, inspired some girls, and was given a brand new Arduino Galileo board from Intel CEO himself Brian Krzanich.

Sylvia says: "Super cool to meet the CEO and all the awesome girls making fun experiments with Makey makey and scratch, and I can't wait to try to make something cool with my new Galileo board."

October 23rd: With summer over, well intentioned plans altered by a loss in the family, we continued on and arrived in London for MozFest. Where Sylvia and I spoke and presented all about the WaterColorBot and it’s open source APIs, and showed off our web interface demo. So much fun, so many new fans of this little painting platform and the show. Full photo album here.

Sylvia says: "Going to London was SOOOOoooooo cool! I met so many amazing, creative people and got to tour around London, and it was one of the best trips I've had yet. I'm going to make my web game and submit soon!"

December 5th: With November nearly uneventful, RobotsConf in Florida headed up December with Sylvia and I doing a quick Keynote about the crazy adventure we’ve had this year, with her making the WaterColorBot, and me making the desktop software to drive it (Full photo album here). Once that was out of the way, we dove in and hacked together an awesome AR Drone with Spark Core triggered servo grabber controlled entirely by Leap Motion hand gestures.

Sylvia says: "I love Florida! And yea I was a little scared to do my keynote, but me and Dad winged it and had fun, and the rest of the conference was all about making awesome robots, so that's never not awesome!"

December 12: Only just returned, she’s off again to her third TED event, TEDx San Diego! Sylvia spoke all about her incredible adventure so far with the show, and the WaterColorBot from inception, to incredible difficulty getting through iterations, and how she conquers the innumerable hard problems keeping her from her dreams every day (including doing the talk!). Video to be posted soon.

Sylvia says: "Phew! Glad that's over. Yes, it was fun and amazing, and exhilarating, but man how stressful. I think I'm going to wait a bit to do anymore talks for a while. For now I'll stick to fun videos :) "

And that just about wraps up for this year. It’s been an incredible whirlwind of activity, and though the WaterColorBot has been big, Sylvia really hopes she can now focus on more episodes and outreach to teach the magic that is getting hands on and making things.

Tags

WaterColorBot, Mozilla, MozFest, 2013, London, San Diego, San Jose, away, international, hack, MakerBot, Intel, BoingBoing, NASA, Space Camp, Kickstarter, hacking, RobotsConf, robots, TEDx, Brian Krzanich, Jess Klein, Ben Krasnow, Joe Grand, AR Drone

TEDx San Jose Wrapup and Goodbye 2012!

Super-Awesome Sylvia — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 04:41:56 +0000

December was a blast! TEDx San Jose let me meet amazing people, and listen to their amazing talks. Olympic Gold winner Dana Vollmer showed me her medal, and we became best buds!

Susan Fonseca had a really good talk about losing her father, and how 3D printed organs might help lots of people soon because of work done by Singularity University. Maybe with a little luck we'll get to work together on something amazing too.

Afterward, Megan Keely performed some great music for the audience with her band, and even gave me an acorn necklace once we were done! Check out her music, it really is awesome, her dad helps her make it too.

Adam Steltzner (who works at NASA!) was just an awesome guy, and gave an AMAZING TALK about how he and his team helped land the incredible curiosity rover!! (totally jealous)

Jeannie Kahwajy helped me a whole lot with my speech, giving me tips on ways to speak, how to show big points, and a LOTS more. Jeannie’s talk was really good too, she describes ways some people can try to be helpful but sound mean, and how to recognize and help change that.

At lunch, we did a giveaway to a random selection of people by putting vouchers under seats. Super-huge thanks to Sherry at Makezine for coming through at the last minute and getting us the super-awesome books and kits for the giveaway like the Arduino and Raspberry Pi starter kits from the Maker Shed, and the beautifully illustrated Make: Electronics Book and Encyclopedia of Electronic Components

Fans of the show and kids of all ages came up to talk and get autographs. So many cool people there that I could have talked with them for hours. It's probably the best thing you can do at things like this, to talk to interesting people and share ideas, thoughts and inspiration. I had a really good time. :)

2012 was crazy busy for me and my family. Running all the country, over 15,000(!) miles, and lots of local conferences too. We didn’t end up making any more than 2 episodes this year (except this year's holiday gift guide), but we were still busier than ever. Sorry we couldn’t do a bit more, but it’s just me and my family.

In 2013 we will be going to even more Maker Faires, and we’ll be getting back on track with making the new season of Sylvia’s Super-Awesome maker show!! Our next episode will be on Joey Hudy’s SMT LED matrix board for the Arduino, and the next will come soon after. Also, I want to say to all the awesome people who contributed to my New York trip this last September, I am sorry for the wait on getting perks out on time. I promise that by this February, we will have all of those perks out there and sent! Again, I am really sorry.

We’ve got big plans this next year, and with help, I know we can make them happen. See you out there on the road, and remember to get out there and make something!

Tags

home, TEDx, TEDx San Jose, Dana Vollmer, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Maker Shed, Megan Keely, Jeannie Kahwajy, Season 3, gift guide

TEDx San Jose Women welcomes Sylvia on December 1st!

TechNinja — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:08:40 +0000

You heard us right, our very own "Super-Awesome" Sylvia will be speaking from the heart this coming Saturday December 1st, 2012 at TEDx San Jose California!

Sylvia will be talking without a script; all about the show, the importance of summer vacation, and what she thinks is most important in learning. It won't be perfect, but she'll be doing her best, it's only a webshow after all! She'll also have a few tangible surprises for the audience thanks to our awesome friends over at MAKE Magazine.

She'll also be joined by some amazing people on stage, including her friend Jack Andraka she met at TEDx Redmond back in September. At only 15 years old, he helped create an incredibly effective and cheap test for various types of cancers, which helped him win over $100,000 and the grand prize at the 2012 Intel Science Fair.

If you think you can make it, click here to sign up! For the rest of the world, the conference will be streaming live during the event, with details to come on the official Facebook page.

Also, don't forget to keep up with Sylvia live during the event for thoughts, exclusive pictures, and more on her official twitter account.

Hope to see you there!

Tags

TEDx, TEDx San Jose, conference, women, away, science, talk

TEDx Redmond wrapup and New York bound

TechNinja — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 02:55:10 +0000

We had a blast at the third annual TEDx Redmond event (Sylvia's very first TEDx talk!), and now we're off to New York city, but first, some notes from our trip to Washington State.

After about 15 hours of driving we arrived in Seattle for a bit of fun to meet up with with Sylvia's aunt Suzy, then we took a quick detour to meet up with fabulous hardware hacker Jeri Ellsworth at a little place called Valve Software! (That visit will get its own blog post soon).

Then on Saturday, it was time for TEDx Redmond! We headed out to to the Microsoft Conference Center, did a little rehearsal, then it was on to the main event. Sylvia was in session two, at the 29 minute mark, check it out embedded below.

We had an awesome time, and we can't wait to do more. We're flying out tomorrow morning to NYC, and we'll be visiting as many awesome maker places as we can. Drop us a note and let us know if there's somewhere you think we should go. See you out there!

Tags

TEDx, Redmond, away, trip, presentation, education, Valve Software, Jeri Ellsworth

Look out road: Here we come!!

Super-Awesome Sylvia — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 17:10:51 +0000

Thanks to all the awesome people out in the world who helped me get to my fundraiser goal of $5,000, me and the family are heading out on the road immediately!

We're driving up Interstate 5 through Oregon, making a stop in Springfield, then early tomorrow morning we'll be in Redmond Washington for my very first TEDx Talk! I'm super excited (and nervous) but I know it's going to be awesome no matter what!

Then next week on Friday we fly out to spend the whole rest of the month in New York City! Saturday I'll be teaching how to make Cardboard Robots with MakeDo at the Smithsonian National Design museum's Target Design workshop for kids!!, then I'll be visiting Makerbot, Adafruit, NYC Resistor, then off to the Open Hardware Summit at Eyebeam, then Maker Faire New York and Education day!!

Did I mention it's been busy? I think I did. But, at least I will have the best trip EVERRR!!!

Tags

away, Redmond, TEDx, New York, Maker Faire, Open Hardware Summit, OHS, Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum