{"id":340249,"date":"2026-07-14T23:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340249\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:24:09","slug":"robotics-camp-sparks-interest-in-stem-for-underserved-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/340249\/","title":{"rendered":"Robotics camp sparks interest in STEM for underserved youth"},"content":{"rendered":"

TAMPA \u2014 Dozens of Tampa area students spent part of their summer building robots, learning to code and exploring artificial intelligence through a free STEM camp designed to remove financial barriers to technology education.<\/p>\n

The Caribbean American National Development Organization<\/a> (CANDO) hosted the robotics camp for students ages 9 to 12, providing hands-on instruction at no cost to families. The program is led by high school robotics students who serve as instructors and mentors for younger campers.<\/p>\n

For 11-year-old Samson, the camp is already shaping his future goals.<\/p>\n

“When I go to the NFL and when I retire, I want to make my own car brand so I can use what I’ve learned from robotics to make cars and electric cars,” he said.<\/p>\n

Camp instructor Kristopher Gajadharsingh said he hopes the experience inspires students to pursue careers in engineering, technology, and entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

“I’d just like to see one of the kids that I taught saying that, ‘I went to this summer camp when I was nine or 10 years old, and it really gave me an idea to be an engineer and a CEO for a business,'” he said.<\/p>\n

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The camp emphasizes more than just technical skills. Students work together to solve problems, compete in robotics challenges, and build confidence through teamwork.<\/p>\n

Third-grader Sarai said she enjoys learning how to assemble robots.<\/p>\n

“They give you instructions to build it,” she said.<\/p>\n

Gajadharsingh said he understands the effect of early exposure because a high school robotics program changed the direction of his own life.<\/p>\n

“The biggest word for that is opportunity,” he said. “When I first came into high school, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I joined my robotics team, and all of a sudden I was flourishing. I went to international competitions, and that really helped me get into college.”<\/p>\n

The need for programs like this continues to grow. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>, STEM employment is projected to increase 8.1% between 2024 and 2034, with computer and information technology occupations expected to account for about 317,700 job openings each year.<\/p>\n

Gajadharsingh said artificial intelligence is fueling students’ curiosity about how technology works and creating new opportunities for future careers.<\/p>\n

For Samson, the lessons extend beyond robotics.<\/p>\n

“What I’m most grateful for is being able to come here and having good people to work with \u2014 people with good sportsmanship and a good attitude,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said that the camp has also taught him an important lesson about perseverance.<\/p>\n

“We have chances to compete and learn from our mistakes,” Samson said. “You don’t fail. You just find one way that doesn’t work.”<\/p>\n

Following strong participation this summer, CANDO plans to launch a year-round STEM program during the upcoming school year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA \u2014 Dozens of Tampa area students spent part of their summer building robots, learning to code and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[137530,4996,54547,113,2375,276,115,135,137,136,835],"class_list":["post-340249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-app-back-to-school","tag-app-education","tag-back-to-school","tag-education","tag-fadia-patterson","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}