This Saturday, June 1st, Explainers and Technovation Challenge were two Iridescent programs among the presenters at the Emoti-Con! NYC Youth Digital Media & Technology Challenge 2013. Over 150 New York City-area youth gathered at the Bartos Forum at the Fifth Avenue Library for the event. Youth participants from MOUSE, Global Kids, the New York Public Library, Parsons Pre-College Programs, Cooper-Hewitt, and other organizations shared their work. The event featured inspiring keynote speeches by Teresa Lynn Rivera, social activist and actor in “The We and the I”, Chloe Varelidi, game designer at Mozilla, and Limor “Ladyada” Fried creator of Adafruit. Team Arrive, the Technovation World Pitch 2013 winners, presented their app, and won the Best Pitch award. Explainers presented their prototype for a solar-powered ice cream truck.

We had a wonderful time at Emoti-Con! and are excited to participate again next year.

Technovation and Explainers work together to create a game as part of activities at Emoti-Con!. Photo: Alicia Damley

Krystal and Graciela explain their app to Juan from Global Kids.

Explainers chat with other youth about their solar-powered ice cream truck.

Paige (Engineers as Teachers – EasT), Bobby (Explainers), and Angélica (Technovation Challenge) have a rare moment in which they pose for the camera.

Team Arrive from Technovation Challenge showing off their Best Pitch medals. Photo: Alicia Damley