Youth in East Kinston now have options for their Saturday mornings.
A Kinston couple began a robotics class in March at Holloway Center, serving nearly 20 children as young as 8-years-old.
Walter Harvey said the class builds robots from scratch out of various materials and programs them on computers.
As Kinston Robotics is in the beginning stage, there is only a pair of robots to work with. Harvey focuses on the programming and engineering aspects, which still interests the children.
He and his wife Beulah provide lunch and some transportation for the students in addition to teaching them the craft.
“Robotics is taking over the world,” Beulah Harvey said. “In our community, with the black children growing up, they’re not really taught robotics.”
The Lenoir Community College criminal justice student said she’s always had a passion for helping children and hopes Kinston Robotics allows youth in the East Kinston to participate in an alternative activity.
“A lot of the kids that come to the program are from the inner city, East Kinston,” Beulah Harvey said, “They’re surrounded by a lot of the things going on. (Robotics) just takes their mind off of that and on to something else.”
Walter Harvey said his goal when he returned to Kinston in 2007 from Massachusetts was to teach children the skill he learned while travelling with a certification in electronics and computers.
“It was something I found real easy and interesting,” he said. “When I had this in mind, I just wanted to jump start the community.”
His future goal for the class is to enter a robotics competition next year.
“I’m trying to get the money together to get enough robots for everybody,” said Harvey, who has supplied materials thus far with his own money. “We need enough robots, we need more computers. That’s the mission: to try to get what we need to keep going.”
The Harveys, who have two teenage children in the program, said the community can donate in various ways — from providing food and scrap materials to speaking to the class.
While the program only began in March, Walter Harvey said he’s gotten pleasant feedback.
“The response I got from the parents after the first couple of classes was, ‘That’s all the kids talk about: robotics,’ ” he said. “It’s really made me feel like I’ve got to do more. (The children have) taken a real interest in it. I know it’s more out there that would love to do it.”
Beulah Harvey said the children have been eager; Walter even missed a graduation in Massachusetts last weekend because he didn’t want to miss the class.
“They need an outlet,” Beulah Harvey said about the youth. “If you put a little bit into them, you’ll get out a lot. We’re just trying to put into the kids so we can get out them because they are our future.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.
BREAKOUT BOX:
For more information on the Kinston Robotics class, contact:
Beulah or Walter Harvey at mrharvey01@yahoo.com