Tag: advanced training

3D ThinkLink Advanced Training Focuses on Job Readiness

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3D ThinkLink Advanced Training November 2019

The 3D ThinkLink students chosen to attend Advanced Training in our Northern Virginia lab gain valuable experience they can’t get in their classrooms at Youth ChalleNGe academies.

YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks and 3D ThinkLink Advanced Training students from Freestate and Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academies
Tom Meeks and the cadets

Last month’s sessions were more focused than ever before on preparing our students to compete for jobs that require 3D design and printing skills. They worked with professional-level equipment and learned about digital fabrication processes that go far beyond the simple, plastic-extrusion 3D printing they did on campus.

Cadets Hassan Lancaster and Jesse Henriquez from the District of Columbia’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy, and Cian Moody and Christian White from Maryland Freestate ChalleNGe Academy, enjoyed four days of intensive learning in the lab with YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks.

We prepared for the week by studying current job postings to make sure every activity we planned was relevant to what’s happening now in the fast-growing and ever-changing world of advanced manufacturing.

3D ThinkLink students repair a Z310 3D printer during Advanced Training November 2019
Repairing a Z310 3D printer

One highlight of the week came courtesy of our 2019 Community Partner Award winner, Fairfax County Public Schools, which donated two used Z Corp 310 powder/binder 3D printers to our lab. We’ve had one of them running since summer, but the other hadn’t been in operation for years. The cadets eagerly took it apart, cleaned and serviced it and did some troubleshooting. By the end of their first day in the lab, they had brought the old 310 back to life.  

We were also pleased that YouthQuest volunteer Kanean Cruz was able to join us one morning to show the students how a desktop CNC machine works.

CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machining is an example of traditional subtractive manufacturing. A cutting tool spinning at high speed carves an object out of a block of material. In additive manufacturing (3D printing), a moving print head deposits material in patterns, layer by layer, to form an object without any waste.

YouthQuest volunteer Kanean Cruz with 3D ThinkLink students from Freestate ChalleNGe Academy at Advanced Training November 2019
YouthQuest volunteer Kanean Cruz with students at Advanced Training

In watching both processes side by side, our students learned that CNC and 3D printing are really two sides of the same coin. In both cases, the tool’s movement is guided by digital instructions called G-codes. The same design files our students create for 3D printing with Moment of Inspiration CAD (Computer Aided Design) software can be used to make objects with a CNC machine. Rapid prototyping shops and other digital fabrication businesses use a combination of additive and subtractive methods, so the CAD skills our students learn are doubly valuable to those employers.

Tom and the students got to try out a new Matter and Form 3D scanner that arrived just in time for Lab Week. Scanning is an alternative to CAD for creating virtual objects to be printed.

The students also got a taste of 3D printing with ceramics, something few people in the field have tried. Thanks to our Advanced Training, they can say they’re familiar with two methods of printing ceramics – powder and liquid resin – as well as using microscopes to examine the ceramic powder and a kiln to fire the printed pieces.

After four days of hard work, the cadets had an impressive list of experiences to add their resumés.

3D Printer Operation, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
– Operated SLA resin printer
– Repaired FDM (plastic filament) printers
– Repaired and serviced Z Corp 310 and 450 powder/binder printers
– Designed parts and printed them on Z450 full-color powder/binder printer
– Handled gypsum and ceramic powders

3D ThinkLink student Christian White from Freestate ChalleNGE Academy cleans 3D-printed ceramic parts during Advanced Training November 2019
Cleaning 3D-printed ceramic parts

Post-Processing 3D Printed Parts
– Curing, support removal, sanding of SLA printed parts
– Depowdering and coating of powder/binder printed parts

Kiln Operation
– Performed ramp and hold firings of 3D-printed ceramic parts

Microscope Camera and Software
– Used focus stacks for ceramic powder particle distribution tests

CNC Machining
– Operated Carbide Nomad desktop CNC machine

Software
– Experience with Moment of Inspiration (CAD) and Cura slicing software

While all four cadets are interested in engineering, each has his own unique career path in mind. We wrapped up the week with a resumé review session, taking time to go over each student’s situation and tailor a plan for their next steps – community college, trade school, employment, military service or a combination of those.

Tom Meeks with 3D ThinkLink students from Freestate and Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academies on the final day of Advanced Training November 2019
It wasn’t ALL hard work!

The cadets reviewed listings of jobs for which they’re already qualified and practiced answering job interview questions in ways that will impress hiring managers.

These young men have compelling stories to tell prospective employers about overcoming mistakes and turning their lives around.

Now, as they graduate from the ChalleNGe program and open new chapters, they will continue striving to achieve their career goals with the failure-is-not-final attitude we have instilled in them throughout their 3D ThinkLink experience.

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At-Risk Teens Learn Life Lessons in YouthQuest’s 3D Lab

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3D ThinkLink Lab Week November 2018 students

For some of our top students, Immersion Lab Week is both the culmination of their 3D ThinkLink experience and a springboard for them to leap into the next stage of their lives.

Thirteen cadets from Maryland’s Freestate ChalleNGe Academy, the District of Columbia’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy and South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy traveled to YouthQuest’s 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in Chantilly, Virginia, for advanced training this year.

3D ThinkLink students do 3D scanning experiments during Immersion Lab Week in May
Students from Maryland, DC, and South Carolina do 3D scanning experiments during Immersion Lab Week in May

3D ThinkLink instructors at the academies select deserving cadets twice a year, near the end of the ChalleNGe programs’ class cycles. Coming so close to graduation, Lab Week gives the at-risk teens we serve a chance to see how far they’ve come and focus on what’s next.

“We do this to see how we’ve done in teaching the students, to introduce them to new experiences they didn’t get in their regular classes at the academies, and to show them where they can go from here,” explained YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks, who leads the advanced training sessions.

On one level, Lab Week is a reward for the cadets’ outstanding performance in 3D class. Spending their days immersed in 3D learning and creativity is a welcome break from the regimented routine of their academies. Plus, they’re delighted to stay in a nice hotel instead of their barracks for a few nights. 

“It helped me expand my imagination,” said Freestate Cadet Jessie Hickman. “We can make just about anything we can imagine. It’s really cool.”

Freestate Cadets Sthephanie Alvarez-Vega and Jessie Hickman with 3D ThinkLink instructor Aaron Ancrum at November Immersion Lab Week
Freestate Cadets Sthephanie Alvarez-Vega and Jessie Hickman with instructor Aaron Ancrum at November Lab Week

Our lab is where Jessie and his fellow students got their first chance to work with a 3D scanner and a full-color powder-bed 3D printer last month.

“When I found out you can 3D print what you scan, I wanted to take the most complicated thing and see if I could print it,” he said.

The November Lab group evaluated the new 3D scanning features of Sony’s Xperia XZ1 phone. In May, students worked with several kinds of handheld scanners, cameras and Cappasity 3D visualization software. Both groups experimented with various scanning and lighting techniques to develop “best practices” recommendations for the manufacturers, which they presented in panel discussion videos.

Soft Skills and Hard Work

Along with exploring 3D scanning, both Lab Week groups dug deeper into the capabilities of their Moment of Inspiration design software, going beyond what they had time to do during their on-campus classes. They took on some challenging projects and, in the process of completing them, had to practice the life skills that are at the heart of our 3D ThinkLink Initiative.

“3D changes your perspective on things. If you want to design something, you have to think about it before you start, plan it all out in your head,” explained Capital Guardian Cadet Ashley Walker in our lab last month. “It taught me patience because I’m not a patient person. Don’t get frustrated with every new thing, because you can do it!”

South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy Cadet Cassie Myers works with other 3D ThinkLink students to test a handheld 3D scanner during Lab Week in May
Cassie Myers works with other cadets to test a handheld 3D scanner during Immersion Lab Week in May

“I like hands-on stuff, so being here I can actually involve myself by working,” said South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy Cadet Cassie Myers during her week in the lab in May. “I used to struggle a lot with working with people. This has helped me with that. We have to work together to get a project done. Teamwork makes the dream work!”

Freestate’s Trevor Haney, who earned a YouthQuest scholarship in June for the essay he wrote about his 3D ThinkLink experience, also enjoyed getting to know and work with students from other ChalleNGe programs. In addition to teamwork, the program taught him our most important lesson: Failure is not final.

“Before, if something didn’t turn out right or the way I wanted, I would just give up,” said Trevor. “But being in 3D and being here these past couple of days, I’ve learned you can re-do something. And if it fails, change something. It will fix the whole thing and make it better each time.” 

Persistence, collaboration, innovative thinking, problem solving and communication are among the “soft skills” our program instills in at-risk youth, along with the “hard skills” of using CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software and 3D printers. It’s a combination that’s prized by employers. 

A scan of 3D ThinkLink student Daniel Fickens from South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy made with a Sony Xperia phone during Immersion Lab Week in November 2018
A scan of Daniel Fickens made during Lab Week in November

Students like Daniel Fickens from SCYCA, who wants a career in the construction industry, know their 3D ThinkLink skills will strengthen their resumes. When they’re asked to give examples of their qualifications in job interviews, they’ll be able to talk about what they did during Lab Week.

“At first, looking at the stuff you had built, I never thought it would be me getting on a computer and doing it myself,” said Daniel after seeing 3D-printed architectural models of homes and commercial buildings in our lab. “Knowing 3D printing can help me in construction moving forward.”

Sthephanie Alvarez-Vega was hesitant to take our class at first because she’d already been picked for the welding program at Freestate.

“I’m glad I didn’t choose welding because I wouldn’t have had all these great experiences in 3D class. This is going to help me a whole lot in finding a job,” she said. “Like putting this on my resume. Imagine someone who’s bilingual with 3D printing experience. I have more of a chance to have a good career.”

‘Break Things, Make Things and Try Things’

The students in the May Lab group heard some valuable career-planning advice during their visit to 3D printer manufacturer M3D.

J.J. Biel-Goebel leads a tour of M3D for Lab Week students in May 2018
J.J. Biel-Goebel leads a tour of M3D for Lab Week students in May

“Break things, make things and try things. And don’t be afraid to fail at all because that’s where you’re going to learn the most,” Chief Operating Officer J.J. Biel-Goebel told the cadets as he showed them around M3D’s research and production facility in Fulton, Maryland. “And don’t give up. That’s the other important thing. Keep bashing your head against the wall until you figure it out.”

He explained that “we fail a lot” in the process of prototyping new kinds of 3D printers – and each failure leads to an improvement in the next version of the design.

Biel-Goebel said that’s why he asks all job applicants to talk about something they’ve made. He wants them to describe what worked and didn’t work, and what changes they made.

Hiring managers are looking for people who “learn how to learn,” he continued. Taking on projects that require you to teach yourself new skills, as students do throughout their 3D ThinkLink experience, makes you more valuable to an employer.

“Nobody is going to get it right the first time, every time,” he said. “I want someone who knows that, knows what their limitations are, knows what they have to learn, and keeps trying and asking questions.”

‘I Never Thought I’d Experience Anything Like This’

If they come away from our 3D ThinkLink training with nothing else, we want the at-risk teens in our classes to feel better about themselves and know they can succeed, despite past failures.

At the end of last month’s Immersion Lab, cadets talked about their favorite projects from the week. Capital Guardian’s Ashley Walker held up an ornament she created with a small light glowing behind a 3D-printed panel that features Looney Toons character Marvin the Martian with hearts and a poem.

“Marvin looks mean, but he’s not,” told her fellow Lab students. “I tend to get to a place where I get so frustrated that I take out my frustrations on the people I love. … I can be mean sometimes, but this is a lot of love.”

Marvin the Martian decoration made by Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy Cadet Ashley Walker during Immersion Lab Week in November 2018Then she read her poem:

I loved you yesterday
I love you still
I always have
I always will

“I’m grateful that I chose to take the 3D class because back home I never had the chance to experience anything like this,” said Ashley. “I really appreciate it and I never thought I’d experience anything like this. I didn’t know it was possible.”

More Photos From 2018 Immersion Labs

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The YouthQuest Foundation Year in Review: 2017

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YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks with students and teachers at advanced 3D ThinkLink training at Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy in December 2017

One of the many highlights of 2017 for our foundation was being nominated as Public Service Innovator of the Year by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce for our 3D ThinkLink Initiative in March. The months that followed were filled with examples of our program’s value in building better lives for at-risk youth.

“Our innovation is not that we introduce kids to 3D design and printing, it’s how we use this technology as a vehicle to teach the important life skills at-risk youth lack, such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity and the confidence to fail,” said YouthQuest Co-Founder and President Lynda Mann. “3D printing is perfectly suited for showing kids who’ve failed in school that mistakes are part of the learning process – that they are the beginning of something good, not the end of something bad.”

YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks at the foundation's display at the Greater Washington Innovation Awards Showcase in March 2017
Greater Washington Innovation Awards Showcase in March

Being a Greater Washington Innovation Awards nominee gave us the opportunity to tell regional leaders about YouthQuest’s life-changing work with young people like Aunya’ Jones, a top student in our 3D ThinkLink class at Maryland’s Freestate ChalleNGe Academy.

“Before 3D printing, I did not believe in myself, and I had accepted the opinion that I was not good enough,” Aunya’ wrote in an essay that earned her a $500 YouthQuest scholarship to continue her education.

“3D printing has helped guide me into making better decisions and gave me a new life skill along the way. It has really helped me understand my self-worth because now I know I can design my own future,” she explained. “I now see the bigger picture to my life’s problems and I’m not afraid to face them.”

We also awarded scholarships this year to essay contest winners Asia Baker-Stevenson from Freestate and LaMarcus Corley from the District of Columbia’s Capital Guardian Youth ChalleNGe Academy.

In his essay, LaMarcus described how the 3D ThinkLink experience changed his way of thinking. He said it helped him control his anger and improve his concentration.

“When I come to class, my whole mood changes,” LaMarcus wrote. “I become happy because I know that I’m in a good place.”

LaMarcus also said our class brought out the creativity he used to keep “all bottled in” and taught him how to “think about stuff differently.”

A YEAR OF ACHIEVEMENT

Aunya’ and LaMarcus are also two of the ChalleNGe Cadets who took part advanced training this year in the 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab at our headquarters in Chantilly, Virginia.  

reestate ChalleNGe Academy Cadets Stephen Brown and David Kelly in Freestate ChalleNGe Academy Cadets Stephen Brown and David Kelley in advanced training in YouthQuest's 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in June 2017
Advanced Training in the 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in June

The June lab sessions focused on our project to train 3D ThinkLink graduates as Youth Mentors, giving them the skills and equipment to teach others about 3D printing and serve as positive role models in their communities. LaMarcus was there along with fellow Capital Guardian Cadet Adrian Vasquez, and David Kelly and Stephen Brown from Freestate.

Adrian told us during lab week that he used to have problems in school and our class helped get him back on track.

“I would get good grades, but my mind would always be on something else. So I got caught up with stuff I wasn’t supposed to be around. But ever since I started 3D, my mind has been nowhere near that stuff,” he said. “It’s like therapy, a type of therapy. Working on 3D designs keeps me focused, not on the other nonsense stuff.”

In December, we tried something different by taking our advanced training out of our lab and into the classroom at Camp Schwartz on the Capital Guardian campus. Cadets Keyonte Alston, Quadaija Hudgens and Alexander Price honed their design and printing skills during three days of training. A couple of weeks later, they graduated from Capital Guardian along with four other Cadets who completed our 3D ThinkLink class; Divine Carr, Markus Kemp, Keith Pettiford, and Herman Signou.

Throughout 2017, we repeatedly saw proof that what works for the teens in ChalleNGe academies also works for at-risk kids in other kinds of programs we serve.

PHILLIPS School students and teachers visit YouthQuest's 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in April, 2017
PHILLIPS students and teachers explore the 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab

The PHILLIPS Programs for Children and Families has seen great success tailoring our curriculum for students on the autism spectrum. PHILLIPS was so pleased with the results of last year’s 3D ThinkLink pilot project at its Annandale, Virginia, school that it expanded the class to its Fairfax campus this year. Some of the students from last year’s class are now involved in a 3D printing club at the Annandale campus, too. It was a pleasure to have PHILLIPS students visit our 3D ThinkLink Creativity Lab in April.

It’s also been gratifying to watch the growth of our partnership with Horizons Hampton Roads, an academic, cultural, and recreational program for kids from low-income families in Virginia’s Tidewater area. We started with last year’s Summer Enrichment Program, providing a 3D ThinkLink class for sixth-graders at a single site in Portsmouth. This summer, the project expanded to sites in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, reaching a total of 32 kids. The students were “engaged and challenged” by our curriculum, according to the annual report from Horizons Hampton Roads, and teachers were excited to try some new projects they’d developed that used 3D design and printing to support STEM lessons, such as creating a paddlewheel for a ferryboat.

“The 3D printing was a great experience,” HHR teacher Franklin Baker reported. “From the design portion to troubleshooting, our students had to problem-solve from the first step to the last.”   

Highly skilled, enthusiastic teachers are the key to our program’s success. That’s why our teacher training sessions are so important. Teachers from several partner programs came to our lab for a week in February and October this year to learn about curriculum changes, software updates, and new printers and materials.

“We want to give them the best tools and motivate them to learn how to use those tools so they can be the best teachers for the at-risk students we serve,” explained YouthQuest Director of Instruction Tom Meeks.

A YEAR OF GIVING

Giving back to the community is one of YouthQuest’s core values.

One of the ways our organization gives back locally is by sponsoring the annual Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition. This was the sixth straight year we’ve provided the prize money for the contest, which challenges teens in Loudoun County, Virginia, to identify problems in their community and implement solutions.

Top 10 teams in the 2017 Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition
Top 10 teams in the 2017 Step Up Loudoun Youth Competition

Kriti Ganotra from Broad Run High School earned the $1,000 top prize this year for developing a free device that detects computer network vulnerabilities.

“I want to bring it to Loudoun County, using high schoolers to create a community where everyone is educated about cyber-bullying, cyber-security, cyber-threats and technology,” Kriti said in an interview with Loudoun Youth. “I want to bring this to every single house and eventually patent this into something that we can develop all around the nation.”

YouthQuest supporters also gave back generously this year to make our 12th annual golf tournament a success. Even though it rained for the first time in the history of our signature fundraising event, more than 100 players and volunteers turned out at Trump National Golf Club on August 7.

We were especially pleased to welcome Insperity, Pure Storage and ePlus as new sponsors this year.

For the first time, the winning team received 3D-printed trophies that were designed and produced in our lab by Tom Meeks.

YouthQuest Co-Founder Allen Cage putts in the rain at the golf tournament August 7, 2017.
YouthQuest Co-Founder Allen Cage putts at the golf tournament in August

The tournament’s Silent Auction raised more money than ever and we collected an additional $2,500 through a new fundraising tool, the Giving Tree. The tree displayed at the post-tournament reception and the August 3 VIP Reception hosted by Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Tysons was decorated with tags that were 3D printed in our lab. Each tag gave donors an easy way to provide equipment, supplies and other resources for our 3D ThinkLink students.

Also at the reception, we presented our 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award to Tammy Haug, National Sales Manager for AOC Solutions. Not only does Tammy volunteer at the golf tournament every year, she assisted us with our 10th Anniversary Celebration in Chantilly and the 3D printing workshops we conducted at the National Society of Black Engineers Convention in Anaheim, California, in 2015.

Our 2017 Community Partner Award went to Copy General in Sterling, Virginia, whose constant support for YouthQuest includes printing the program for the golf tournament every year. IMADE3D won the Strategic Partner Award. We’ve worked with IMADE3D since 2015 and are big fans of their JellyBox 3D printer kit. We have several of the printers in our lab and our advanced students always enjoy building and using them.  

Volunteers at the golf tournament in August
Volunteers in the clubhouse at the golf tournament in August

Our donors also gave generously on November 28, when we participated for the second year in #GivingTuesday, a global celebration of philanthropy. We also became part of AmazonSmile this year, giving Amazon users the ability to select YouthQuest as their charity. For every purchase they make, the AmazonSmile Foundation makes a donation to us.

2018 promises to be another year filled with innovations and expansion for us. We’re eager to start the next round of teacher training in February, as that will be a major step toward reactivating our 3D ThinkLink program at South Carolina Youth ChalleNGe Academy, which has been on hiatus for a year. In previous years, SCYCA has been our largest 3D class site.

We are also working toward opening the 3D ThinkLInk Creativity Lab for use by the general public and we’re planning a new fundraiser that we expect will be quite lucrative for us as well as for one lucky raffle winner. Stay tuned for details in the new year.

There’s no need to wait to help us, though. We welcome contributions at any time of the year. Please click here or contact Operations Manager Juan Louro at juan.louro@youthquestfoundation.org or 703-234-4633.

Happy New Year to all our friends!

THE YEAR IN PICTURES

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