The Wire

On Saturday, June 4, student techies and educators from all across NYC gathered at Parsons The New School for Design for the Third Annual Emoti-Con - the NYC Youth New Technology and Digital Media Festival!

The day kicked off with a delicious lunch and a teambuilding challenge: to build the tallest possible tower using only a package of index cards and a roll of scotch tape, in 10 minutes or less!

Students from Bronx Early College Academy collaborate with Coordinators from P.S. 256Q to build their tower!-->

The afternoon continued with fabulous speakers--including Mouse's own board member Ejovi Nuwere--and an incredible student project fair, featuring students from Mouse Squad, Quest 2 Learn, Institute of Play, Global Kids, Parsons Pre-College Academy, New York Public Libraries, and Radio Rookies. Representing Mouse we had:

• The JMHS Mouse Squad from James Madison High School, with their awesome Flare Pen project!
• The Gateway Academy Squad from P.S. 256Q, with their fantastic Repair Manual, including both a print version and an iPad version!
• The Mouse Corps Legacy Project, with students from a number of NYC high schools, had two projects: Gar-Blog (a smartphone app about subway cleanliness with a garbage toss game) and Sol-Tech (a solar-powered cell phone charger that can attach to a baseball hat or messenger bag)!

Later in the afternoon, a youth panel--featuring Mouse Corps' Zainab Oni!--discussed the role of youth in technology. Finally, the winning projects from the project fair were announced: The Gateway Academy Squad took home the prize for "Most Potential for Social Impact," and the Mouse Corps Sol-Tech group walked away with "Best Pitch" and "Favorite Project Overall."

Congratulations to all the students who completed incredible projects, and to those who came out to support their peers and enjoy a great day of new technology and fun! Hope to see you all there next year!

Photos clockwise from upper left: JMHS Mouse Squad students demonstrate their Flare Pen; Legacy Project students standing with their Gar-Blog display; Legacy Project students hanging out in front of their Sol-Tech display; Gateway Academy Squad students show the iPad and print versions of their Repair Manual.

See more great pictures on Mouse's Flickr stream, or on the Emoti-Con Facebook page.