Robotics for young women with disabilities

Thanks to your incredible support, we’ve made exciting strides in empowering young women with disabilities in Costa Rica through robotics! This semester, we optimized our course’s curriculum to include even more hands-on activities, helping our students dive deeper into the fundamentals of robotics and its components. These changes are bringing theory to life and giving our participants a powerful boost in confidence and skills.

In July, we connected with four schools in San José and one in Heredia to recruit participants, reaching out through special education coordinators to find young women eager to learn. We’re thrilled to report that for our first course block, 19 young women with cognitive disabilities enrolled, and 18 successfully completed the course! Watching their growth has been an inspiring reminder of the difference supporters like you are making.

For our second course, we expanded our reach through a collaboration with the University of Costa Rica’s Cognitive Disability Inclusion Program (PROIN). This allowed us to welcome a broader age range of young women. We enrolled 19 participants—each one excited to explore the world of robotics and empowered by the opportunity.

So far, the participants in this round are already on their fifth session, and they’re hard at work on their final projects. Their dedication and creativity shine through, and it’s all possible because of your kindness and belief in our mission!

To show our heartfelt gratitude and give you a closer look at the amazing progress these young women are making, we’ve prepared a short video of their training sessions. This video includes a few words from some of the participants, capturing their excitement and growth in this journey. We invite you to watch and celebrate their achievements with us!

Watch the video here!

As Giving Tuesday approaches, we invite you to keep this momentum going. Your generosity is a spark that fuels these young women’s dreams and brings inclusion to STEM. Let’s make this season of giving one that truly transforms lives. Thank you for standing with us every step of the way!

Links:

• Let us share the good work! Here is a video of our training.

Dear friends and donors,

We at Fundación Omar Dengo are thrilled to update you on the progress of our initiative aimed at providing robotics training for young women with disabilities.

Thanks to your generosity, we are now developing the second phase of our workshop series. This phase is designed not only to expand technical skills but also to nurture critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork among our current beneficiaries. Our goal is to continue strengthening the skills of our previous cohorts and to create additional training materials and tools for teaching robotics to young people with mild disabilities.

As we move into the latter half of 2024, our commitment to empowering young women with disabilities remains steadfast. Your continued support enables us to cultivate an inclusive and accessible learning environment, ensuring that every participant can thrive.

Fundación Omar Dengo extends heartfelt appreciation for your unwavering dedication. Please join us in spreading the word about our Robotics for Young Women with Disabilities initiative. Together, we can make a profound impact, inspiring future generations and fostering positive change.