Kent Technology event Jan. 27 showcases student achievements

The Kent School District’s annual Technology Expo is scheduled for this week and this year’s event promises to be bigger than ever.

In the past the event bounced from school to school, but this year it is being hosted at the ShoWare Center to allow enough space for a new direction which will combine student projects with local businesses to show how what the kids are learning applies to the real world.

“It’s an opportunity to allow students, parents and community members to see what is happening in the classroom,” Tom Riddell, a teacher on special assignment in the district’s information technology department said of the event. “So often the kids do things in the classroom and who knows about it outside the classroom?”

This year, however, the added business booths at the expo provide a link in the other direction as well. For example, at one booth, students will be demonstrating a piece of software to manipulate shapes and designs while at the booth right next door, an architectural firm will be set up showing how the knowledge and programs the students are learning applies to what they do every day.

“They’re seeing that what they’re doing in the classroom is not that far removed from what they’re doing in the real world,” Riddell said of the pairings.

Another run of booths on the ShoWare floor will show a progression of learning the different technology, Riddell said. For example, there might be a classroom of an elementary school demonstrating how they use video software for a book report while in the next booth over, it will be middle school students demonstrating more advanced use of the video editing software using green screens and working up to professionals, such as television stations, and how they edit video for newscasts.

Riddell said KING-5 newscaster Brad Goode will be the keynote speaker for the event and the hope is his station will be among the demonstrators.

The theme of this year’s expo is “The Future is Now,” which Riddell said is to further show the students, whom he called “digital natives,” that they will be using technology for the rest of their lives.

“It provides real-world examples and that’s the big key right there,” he said. “It’s the next step.”

So far, more than 80 booths are being planned for approximately 25 businesses, 130 teachers and more than 450 students from around the district.

Riddell said the point will be for students to demonstrate what they are doing.

“It’s all student-led,” he said. “The booth is meant as an opportunity for the kids to do the presenting.”

Riddell said the idea to include businesses came after talking to the Kent and Covington Chambers of Commerce as well as Tom McLaughlin at the Center for Advanced Manufacturing of Puget Sound (CAMPS). Riddell said that many of the manufacturing jobs in the area are heavy in their use of technology and many people do not consider it as such.

“As this idea grew, we realized there’s a need for this,” he said.

Businesses are also helping sponsor this year’s Expo, which allowed the district to expand it into the ShoWare center.

One of the other exciting additions to this year’s event will be a crane simulator, brought in by a Seattle construction company. Students and community members will have the opportunity to try their hand at working one of the giant cranes used to build skyscrapers.

There are also breakout session planned on topics such as internet Safety, which will be led by a Seattle Police Offer.

Riddell said so far the buzz on this year’s expo is building and several local school districts have already contacted him and plan to be on hand to see the expo for themselves.

In the future, Riddell said he hopes it continues to grow and said it could also incorporate other local schools and become an even bigger showcase for area students.

“There’s no reason this can’t be a much bigger event than just Kent,” he said.