Once Upon a Tech

We talk with student organizers about their experience with Bio-Med Tech-Girls. Noelle is a Junior at St. Anne's-Belfield School and a participant for 2 years. She is now the Tech-Girls intern helping out with the program. Sruthi is a 4th year studying biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia and helped design some of the content. Bio-Med Tech-Girls is a collaboration between the UVA D...

Lisel Bruscia is the Executive Director of the STEAM Discovery Academy . She shares with us all about this program that she and her husband founded in 2016. It has evolved from summer and after school programming to including virtual programming and the opening of a new STEAM Incubator space in Charlottesville. Their programs infuse hands-on STEAM activities with play, design thinking and career e...

Despite or maybe because of the pandemic, we are busier than ever this summer - teaching online classes, running summer camps and taking and offering summer professional development. In this episode, we catch you up on all our summer activities and of course, share tons of resources !

Jean Weller is the Educational Technology Specialist in the Office of STEM & Innovation for the Virginia Department of Education. She is currently the administrator of #GoOpenVa, an open education resource community and repository for all teachers in Virginia. In this episode, Jean shares how the promises of edtech from the last 30 years finally seem ready to come to fruition and how #GoOpenVa can...

Saber Khan is a progressive CS educator, Education Community Director at the Processing Foundation and co-host of the #ethicalCS twitter chat. Kim first met Saber at #MozFest 2016 where he and a colleague, Jennie Crowley, shared ideas for building an open source ethical CS program. In our interview, we explore what’s been happening around the ideas of ethical CS and learn about the power of creati...

In this episode, we talk about stereotypes, failure and appreciating the creative side of CS with Camellia Pastore, a rising senior studying computer science at Virginia Tech. We last spoke with Cami during #MorningMeeting . We have worked with Cami through Tech-Girls, Spark Hackathon, Summer Spark and most recently as co-presenters at #MozFest and we are always blown away by this young woman's dr...

In this episode, we talk with Brehanu Bugg, creator of Stand with BLM , a resource to "to inform and provide resources to Black Lives Matters activists". He also happens to be a former middle school student of ours and now a rising 11th grader. During this episode, he shares with us how he is embracing the intersection of technology and literacy through his love of CS, drama and writing. We also f...

We're back! We so enjoyed our time doing #MorningMeeting, but we are transitioning back to our original idea for the podcast: highlighting people that are working and projects that are happening at the intersection of technology and literacy. We hope you'll join us on our weekly journey! Learn more at www.onceuponatech.com .

In today’s episode, Day Forty, we wrap up #MorningMeeting. It has been such a pleasure sharing laughter, resources, special guests and daily challenges with you for the past 10 weeks! We will be back in June with a weekly podcast format. Find resources and stats from #MorningMeeting here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-nine, we catch up on sharing our resource backlog including Code with an athlete, Varsity Tutors with Leland Melvin, Celebrities read James and the Giant Peach, How let your children be upset, and a mother’s COVID-19 children’s book parodies go viral. The daily challenge is to check out the Fresh Films video challenge and/or the Emoji Summer Reading challenge....

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-eight, special guests Zach Minster, 9-12 CS Coordinator and Zach Ashby, senior, both from St. Anne’s-Belfield School join us to share their passion for computer science and to give us a preview of what’s in store for the student-driven Summer SPARK! experience. It’s going to be tremendous! The daily challenge is to set a tech creation goal for this summer. Fin...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-seven, special guest Cami Pastore, senior at Virginia Tech, joins us to share about her newfound passion for journaling and her journey into computer science. Along the way she shares some great resources for getting started with journaling and reframing failure. The daily challenge is to brainstorm ideas to solve a real-world problem, inspired by Bio-Med Tech...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-six, special guests Zara and Hayley join us to talk about their journey into their mask making and the impact it is having on them and their community. Resources from the episode include Social Distance Assistance podcast, Exploratorium and a read aloud from Michelle and Barack Obama. The daily challenge is to help combat loneliness by supporting our seniors a...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-five, special guest Lucia Hoerr, Backpack Buddies founder, shares about her mission to fill backpacks with school supplies for kids in Charlottesville and beyond. Resources from the episode include youth empowering organizations like Youth Service America, DoSomething and Karma for Cara. The creative challenge is to design your dream backpack! Find resources h...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-four, special guest, Corrie Locke-Hardy from The Tiny Activist shares about their mission to find the best books, to spread knowledge & understanding and to make education transformative. Resources from the episode include Gender Spectrum, The Gender Wheel, Teaching Tolerance, The Conscious Kid and The Trevor Project. The creative challenge is to introduce you...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-three, our rock theme is inspired by Bennett’s Village call to find a rock that speaks to you, write a message of love or hope on it and share it with someone to brighten their day. Find resources here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-two, our special guest Viv Shields, senior at St. Anne’s-Belfield School and Emily Couric Leadership Finalist, shares her passion for environmental activism. We share lots of resources for budding environmental activists including Young Voices for the Planet, a spotlight on young activists around the world and tips for kids to get started. The creative challen...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty-one we explore sound from what it’s like to edit sound for a podcast with Audacity to creating your own soundscape with Scratch in today’s challenge! Also, don’t miss out on the latest from the Princess in Black and your last chance to register for Girls’ Geek Day! Find resources here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Thirty we catch up on sharing our resource backlog! For outdoors: 31 Unorganized Sports, for indoors: #architecturefromhome, for readers: a Harry Potter read aloud with Daniel Radclifff, for finding your own bright spots: the Pleasant Event Calendar and finally the Creepy Pair of Underwear read aloud and creative challenge! Find resources here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-nine we explore the intersection of animals, art and literacy with special guest Joe Vena, education director at Ix Art Park and host of The Daily Creature . And, of course, today’s challenge is to watch an episode of The Daily Creature to inspire your own animal creation. Find resources here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-eight our special guests, Izzy, Spicer and Ms. Holden from St. Anne’s-Belfield School share their experiences doing distance learning, being part of a collaborative Robot Design Project with K-4 and their student-led Quest about exploring food insecurity in Charlottesville. The daily challenge is to make a Robot Zine. Find resources here .

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-seven our special guests, Lily Lin & Raeann Giannattasio from UVA Society of Women Engineers (SWE), share their passion for engineering and how they work to inspire girls in K-12 interest in engineering fields through hands-on activities, design challenges, tours, and speakers. The daily challenge comes from the Virtual STEM Guide they created for doing engine...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-six our special guest, Paige Lindblom, Wildrock Early Childhood Program Director, shares all about the therapeutic nature of play including lots of ideas for family bonding, creative play, and quiet reflection time outside. Resources include the iNaturalist City Challenge and Blue Ridge Builders Lego Challenge. The daily challenge is to create a nature mandala...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-five our special guest, Debbie Mickle, VPM’s Science Matters Director, gives us a snapshot of how they use the power of TV, radio and the web to “inspire everyone to think about science, to value science and to understand its importance to our future.” Learning Plus TV & VA TV Classroom, Hot Shots & Hot Jobs and the new Social Distance Assistance podcast are j...

In today’s #MorningMeeting Day Twenty-four we are all about books with special guest Kit Ballenger, librarian and book recommender for Wow in the World and Kids Place Live. We also highlight resources from Jason Reynolds and School Library Journal and our challenge is to create a book spine poem or story. Find resources here .