The Dottie Rose Foundation and Born Boundless have launched a virtual time capsule workshop that combines STEM, mental health and wellness education for children and teens.
Born Boundless, founded in 2017 by Shamyra Parker, is a Charlotte organization aimed at empowering woman and girls based on the idea that everyone is born without limitations.
Dottie Rose is a local nonprofit whose work aims to close the gender gap in technology by offering computer science workshops and camps to girls in and around Charlotte.
The virtual workshop, which took place over three days last month, was led by Parker and Dottie Rose Director of Programming Kim Schoubert.
The women guided students by combining technology, art, writing and conversation to connect in a deeper way to how they're feeling, Parker said. They also focused on developing social emotional tools to better connect with others.
Parker described the partnership as the "perfect marriage," giving the children a healthy combination of STEM education and emotional and mental support.
"What we saw in some of the STEM workshops with kids (is that) other things come up in their lives," she said. "They may talk about bullying at school, how they’re feeling being home or being bored during the pandemic... This enables me to be able to step in and say, 'Let's talk about that, tell me more.'"
The kids used Google Slides to edit and insert photos, videos and personal essays into their own digital time capsules. The sessions related to mental health and wellness were meant to teach them how to express their feelings in a productive and healthy way, Parker said.
"Overall it's about capturing this moment in time," she said. "But there is going to be a huge ripple effect for our children, post-Covid. It’s important that we put things in place to be able to support them."
Parker said the workshop was a successful undertaking and something Born Boundless and Dottie Rose will likely partner on again.
"This was kind of the Beta to see how they responded," she said. "The idea was always that we would do it again. We are going to be holding additional workshops targeted at children, teens and adults."
