Participants:
Series Code: UBR
Program Code: UBR000259A
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00:01 Is your child labeled ADD or ADHD
00:04 and you feel as though there's little hope 00:06 for a future for him or her? 00:07 Do you know someone 00:09 who's looking for a career in technology? 00:11 Well, you won't want to miss this program. 00:13 My name is Jason Bradley, 00:15 and you're watching Urban Report. 00:43 Hello and welcome to Urban Report. 00:45 My guests today are the two Robert Henleys, 00:47 Junior and the Third. 00:50 Welcome to Urban Report, Mr. Henley and Robert. 00:54 That's how I'm going to have to differentiate. 00:56 It could get very confusing. 00:59 You know, as I look at you, 01:01 and I've known you for a little bit, 01:03 both of you for a little while now, 01:06 I'm very impressed with how you've raised Robert, 01:11 but I know that it's not 01:13 just smooth sailing at all times. 01:17 So what happened during the spring 01:20 that was a difficult time for you? 01:22 So in the spring of the second grade year, 01:26 my wife and I went 01:28 to the final parent-teacher conference of the school year. 01:32 And at the end of the conference, 01:35 the teacher says, 01:37 "Oh, by the way, Robert just gets up, 01:39 he'll just walk around the class all the time. 01:42 Well, pay attention, 01:43 and it's kind of a lot of disruptive." 01:46 And I took that as a surprise, 01:50 you know, the whole school year has gone by, 01:52 and I'm just now finding out 01:54 that Robert doesn't pay attention 01:56 in the class, and he walks around. 01:58 So it bothered me, 02:00 and I get kind of upset with her, 02:02 and the first thing that popped in my mind, 02:05 you know, Robert's a young black man, 02:08 and so you're letting him know that it's okay 02:13 or you're giving him a signal 02:14 that it's okay to not obey laws, 02:18 rules at that little age. 02:20 And so I was kind of sad about that. 02:22 And then she kind of suggested to us that maybe 02:25 we should get him tested for ADD. 02:27 And what is ADD for those that don't know? 02:29 So ADD is attention deficit disorder. 02:33 I must say it's a learning disability. 02:36 It's labeled that where kids have 02:38 a hard time paying attention in the classroom. 02:41 Some adults label with that disorder. 02:45 And so that's what it is. 02:47 And those kids often fall 02:50 through the cracks academically and suffer the stigma 02:54 of being labeled with that. 02:57 And oftentimes, the kids will use 02:58 that as an excuse for bad behavior. 03:01 Okay. So that's what it is. 03:02 Okay. 03:04 And, you know, 03:05 when sometimes kids are labeled, 03:08 but they're actually highly intelligent, 03:10 and they're bored with the coursework 03:12 because they're not being challenged. 03:13 That's right. That's right. 03:15 So what did you do when you received 03:18 that label on Robert? 03:20 Well, the first thing we did, we tried to give him 03:23 some learning techniques to stay focused 03:26 in the classroom. 03:27 "Robert, why don't you doodle in the class, 03:30 get a sheet of paper and draw to stay focused 03:33 or maybe play with some balls 03:35 right in the classroom to keep focus." 03:38 We even had a episode 03:39 where we had him sit on a bouncy ball in the classroom, 03:44 exercise ball, to keep him settled. 03:47 And those things weren't working, 03:49 so we ended up giving him some ADD medicine. 03:55 Okay. Okay. 03:56 And that didn't work too well either. 03:59 You want to talk about 04:00 how you responded to the medicine? 04:02 Yeah. 04:03 So the medicine they gave me 04:04 like a lot of like bad headaches 04:06 and it also... 04:07 It just I wasn't who I was. 04:10 It just you could like something I was, 04:12 like I was drugged. 04:13 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 04:16 And so what did you discover on this journey? 04:18 So, you know, prior to that time, 04:22 I had some graduate work in education, 04:24 and I had coauthored an article on the ADD that appeared 04:27 in the Adventist journal of education. 04:30 And so I began to fall back on 04:32 what I've wanted to do with that process, 04:35 and what you learn is that kids often 04:38 are mislabeled with that. 04:39 You mentioned that they get bored, 04:42 and so there's something called a learning profile. 04:44 Every young person has it. Okay. 04:46 And you compose of your learning styles, 04:51 audio, visual, kinesthetic learners, 04:53 and then there's something called 04:55 multiple intelligences. 04:57 Howard Gardner in the '80s came up 05:00 with a theory that says 05:01 that we're not composed of one type of intellect 05:04 but eight intellects, 05:06 and that we have varying degrees 05:09 of proficiencies in those areas. 05:13 So we have linguistic, verbal intelligence, 05:17 you have mathematical-logic, there's spatial, 05:21 there's intrapersonal, interpersonal, 05:26 there's naturalistic. 05:27 So those are some of the intellects. 05:30 And looking at that, 05:32 and also with a learning profile, 05:33 we find that there's something 05:34 called passion in their interest. 05:36 Okay. Okay. 05:37 If we can find what the kid is passionate about, 05:39 you know, they're going to do that, 05:41 and you can sneak in some learning with that. 05:43 You can sneak in math or science, 05:45 once you figure out what they're passionate about. 05:47 And then the fourth component is pace of learning. 05:50 Every kid doesn't learn at the same pace. 05:52 You know, some kids learn little slower, 05:54 some kids learn faster. 05:56 And so that's the learning profile. 05:58 And then I began to figure out that Robert's learning profile 06:01 was composed of being a kinesthetic learner. 06:04 He liked to take things apart and tinker. 06:07 Did you find pieces of things all over the house? 06:11 Oh, sure. 06:12 You know, he likes taking apart my lawnmower, 06:15 and he want make a scooter and do all kinds of things. 06:18 So yeah, that did happen every now and then. 06:20 Yeah. 06:21 Sometimes I could put it back together. 06:24 Yes. Yes. Yes. 06:25 And so, and then we figured out 06:27 that he has spatial intellect also. 06:30 And those people are often surgeons or engineers. 06:35 Those type of people. 06:37 And so I couldn't be his teacher, 06:39 I had a fulltime job. 06:41 And so I was looking at what I could do 06:44 to engage him in those areas. 06:46 This teacher, 06:48 she didn't engage him in those areas. 06:49 You know, most teachers are taught 06:50 the way they learned. 06:52 Yes. Right? 06:53 Yeah. 06:55 And our educational system is really big on rote learning, 06:57 or it was at the time. 07:00 Chalkboard memorization, 07:02 and those techniques are learning tactics 07:05 don't work well for these types of kids. 07:07 They want to make stuff. 07:08 They don't want to hear about it. 07:10 You know, don't talk about rockets, 07:11 let's make a rocket. 07:13 Yeah, hands on. Yeah, that's right. 07:15 And so at the end of his third grade year, 07:18 the Lord blessed me to come 07:20 across what's called the Adventist Robotics League. 07:24 Wow! 07:25 I didn't even know about the Adventist Robotics League. 07:26 Yeah. Adventist Robotics League. 07:28 And it was started about 14 years ago. 07:32 It was launched by a gentleman 07:34 named Mel Wade and Larry Blackmer. 07:36 Well, Larry Blackmer, right now, 07:37 is the Director of Education 07:40 for the North American Division. 07:41 Okay. 07:42 And he approached Mel Wade who at the time 07:45 was IT Director for the Michigan Conference. 07:48 Okay. He said, "Hey, here's a robot. 07:50 What can we do with this?" 07:52 And Mel Wade found out 07:53 that there was something called FIRST 07:55 which is a non-profit organization 07:58 that operates four divisions of robotic programs 08:02 for kids in grades K, all the way to 12. 08:04 Okay. 08:06 Now this First stand for something? 08:07 Yeah. 08:08 FIRST stands For Inspiration 08:10 and Recognition of Science and Technology. 08:12 Got you. 08:13 It was founded by Dean Kamen, a famous engineer. 08:17 He invented the Segway. 08:19 Wow! Yeah. 08:20 Okay. Okay. 08:22 And he found it first 08:23 because he was the discouraged that the average young person 08:26 couldn't name a famous scientist or engineer. 08:30 They can name a famous athlete, entertainer, 08:34 or even one of those reality people on TV, 08:38 but they couldn't name a famous scientist or engineer. 08:41 And so he created a sport for robotics. 08:46 He made it? So he created a sport for it? 08:48 Yes, for robotics. So it's a sport. 08:50 So around the world, 300,000 young people participated 08:55 in the FIRST robotics competitions 08:58 around the world from K to four, four to eight 09:00 and then two high school versions. 09:02 Wow! Three hundred thousand. 09:04 Three hundred thousand young people. 09:07 And it's an informal way of getting them excited 09:10 about STEM and education because most schools 09:13 don't have this type of authentic 09:16 learning experience in their curriculums. 09:19 And so after school, they end up getting 09:22 into this type of learning. 09:24 And so I found out 09:26 about Adventist Robotics League, 09:27 and I said, "You know what, 09:28 I'm going to go ahead and get Robert in this. 09:30 I think that this matches his learning profile, 09:33 and this might be 09:34 what he needs to get back on track." 09:37 And sure enough, 09:39 we got involved in his fourth grade year, 09:40 and right away, we saw the results of it. 09:44 So at this point, 09:46 you were trying to figure out like exactly 09:48 what you could do to turn his life around? 09:50 That right, that's right, that's right. 09:51 And that was the solution. 09:52 That's right because he was using 09:55 the label as ADD as an excuse for bad behavior. 10:00 Oh, really, Robert? 10:01 You want to speak about that a little bit? 10:03 Yeah, I guess, so like in class, 10:06 if I couldn't focus or I was like just, 10:08 you know, easily getting distracted, 10:10 I'd always say, "Oh, this is my ADD kicking in." 10:12 And things like that. So, yeah. 10:15 So you were highly intelligent because you knew to use 10:18 that as an excuse to try and get you out of trouble. 10:23 And so across the nation, 10:24 thousands of young people are labeled with that. 10:27 And I was a former teacher too. 10:29 I had taught for five years in high school, 10:31 science and technology. 10:33 And there's something called implicit bias, 10:36 you know, where we, you know... 10:39 Unpack that. 10:40 Well, well, subconsciously, 10:44 we can make assumptions about people. 10:46 We put people in boxes subconsciously. 10:49 And as a teacher, once a kid is labeled with something, 10:52 you put that child in the box. 10:53 You're not doing it on purpose. Yeah. 10:55 You know, but that's how, 10:57 I mean, I give the benefit of the doubt. 10:59 You know, whereas a star pupil, 11:01 you may give the benefit of the doubt 11:03 or you may give extra attention to where that child 11:06 who's labeled in a certain way may not get, 11:09 you know, the full attention of the teacher, 11:12 and they fall through the cracks, 11:14 and they don't become what God wants them to be. 11:17 They don't realize God's destiny 11:19 for their lives 11:20 or they can't discover their gift 11:22 that God has for them. 11:23 And so that's something 11:25 that I did not want to happen to my son. 11:26 Yes. 11:28 And so started the robotics club 11:30 and remain after school, immediate impact with... 11:36 He found something that he was smart. 11:39 Yeah. He found his gift. 11:40 He found something he was talented at. 11:43 You want to speak to that? Yeah. 11:44 It really spreads out to everything 11:47 because one of the things, 11:48 you know, as a little kid, I wasn't, 11:50 I mean, when I was labeled ADD, 11:53 I was good at math. 11:54 I could pay attention in math, and I kind of was always like 11:56 ahead of everyone else, 11:57 but, you know, I was kind of doing my own work. 11:59 But English, the other classes 12:03 that weren't as hands-on as math. 12:05 I was kind of, you know, I didn't really like, 12:07 and I kind of got bored easily. 12:09 But in these challenges, a lot of, 12:12 like I started to realize that even though 12:14 I don't like these classes, 12:15 I do need them for what I wanted to do 12:17 'cause I want to be an engineer. 12:19 So I realized that I do need to pay attention 12:23 and also with my dad helping me realize that, 12:26 you know, ADD is just like learning style, 12:28 it's the just learning style they gave me, 12:30 I mean, a label they gave me 12:32 'cause they don't understand me. 12:34 I kind of, you know, I learned how to deal with, 12:36 you know, being, 12:37 like how to focus and just like, 12:39 you know, being able 12:40 to like pay attention more in class 12:42 and actually get good grades. 12:44 Yeah. Got you, got you. Yes. 12:46 Well, I know that you are very intelligent 12:49 because I'm looking at some pieces right now. 12:52 In fact, let's start looking at these. 12:54 Which one... 12:55 I don't even want to touch anything 12:57 'cause I don't want to break, I can't remake it just yet. 13:00 So this is a prosthetic hand 13:01 that my kids developed at the academy 13:07 that I teach at. 13:08 I developed the innovation and robotics lab. 13:10 Okay. 13:12 And it's patented after the MIT Media Lab 13:14 and the Google X Lab 13:15 where kids can go in and pursue their passion. 13:18 Okay. Maybe to cultivate that. 13:20 Lift that hand up so our viewers can see it, 13:23 if you would. 13:25 And so how does it work? 13:27 Okay, so this is the prosthetic hand, 13:29 and so we partnered with a company, 13:31 a non-profit group, called Enable. 13:33 Okay. 13:34 And they make the designs for this available for kids. 13:38 So every year, about a thousand young people 13:41 in America are born without fingers, 13:44 what we call the amniotic band syndrome. 13:46 Okay. 13:47 And they often have to use a prosthetic hand 13:50 to just do stuff. 13:51 And sometimes, those prosthetic hands 13:53 can cost between $6, 000 and $10,000. 13:56 Now you're not going to buy a prosthetic hand for a kid 13:58 that's going to grow. 13:59 Yes. 14:01 And with 3D printing technology, 14:03 they realized that we can design 14:05 a 3D-printed prosthetic hand 14:08 and give it to a kid for about under $20. 14:11 Wait a minute, 14:12 so from like $6000 to under $20? 14:16 Yes. That's revolutionary. 14:17 It is. 14:19 And so the kids can... 14:20 And this is a mechanical version, 14:21 they can grab stuff with it. 14:23 Yeah. 14:24 They can pick up a ball, 14:25 they can pick up a cup and drink it. 14:27 And then they're not seen as a child 14:29 with a handicap because, 14:30 you know, wearing this arm, they're seen as a cool kid. 14:32 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 14:34 They're like Ironman or something. 14:35 Like Ironman, exactly, exactly. 14:37 And so in my class that Robert's taking, 14:41 I'm from the CAD class, 14:42 I challenged the kids to make their own version of this hand 14:46 but to mechanize it 14:48 so that using technology such as what we have here, 14:53 it's mechanical, and they can, 14:55 you know, control it with the sensors. 14:59 And you want to elaborate on that for me, Robert? 15:00 Yeah. Can you pass it to me? 15:02 Yeah. 15:03 I'll let you handle that, Mr. Henley. 15:05 All right. 15:07 So the way this works is, 15:09 this is the hand that we pre-design as a class, 15:13 and then from there, 15:14 I take it on and attached these servos. 15:17 This is just the prototype 15:19 to kind of get the programming down for it. 15:22 So right now, I have it hooked up 15:23 to an arduino board right here. 15:26 And with this right here, 15:30 we program it and what it does is... 15:34 I'm sorry, this is a lot. 15:35 All right, so we hook it up to... 15:37 This is called a MyoWare Sensor, 15:40 and when you flex, you create action potential. 15:44 Okay. Wow! 15:46 So we're about to get a real live demonstration. 15:48 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 15:50 So what this does is it picks up on 15:52 that action potential 15:54 and turns it into a digital signal. 15:56 So it'll rate on a value from... 15:59 I think it was like 250 to like 3,000 or something. 16:05 Wow! 16:06 Yeah, so when I put this on down here... 16:13 See, yeah, this little bar here tells me 16:15 how much I'm flexing or relaxing. 16:17 So your body creates electricity. 16:19 And when you flex, electricity is going 16:22 through to make your muscles flex. 16:24 And so it's picking up on that electricity. 16:26 Wow! Yeah. 16:29 So now will that hand contract? 16:32 Yes, it will. It will. Okay. 16:34 Yeah. 16:36 Wow! That's amazing. 16:37 How long did it take you to make that? 16:43 As a group... 16:45 I didn't even completed it 16:46 not long. 16:47 It's actually really simple CAD. 16:50 And when we say CAD, 16:52 we're talking about computer-aided design. 16:54 That was my next question, what is CAD? 16:55 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 16:56 So we used... 16:58 Computer-aided design. Right. 16:59 So on the course, I taught him the fundamentals of designing, 17:02 using the computer. 17:03 And then the challenge was for them together 17:05 to come together and make this hand, 17:08 and we 3D printed it. 17:10 I mean, see as he... 17:12 Wow! 17:13 As he flexes the arm, the hand opens and closes. 17:19 Yeah. That is cool. 17:22 So what type of programming languages? 17:25 C Sharp. C Sharp. 17:27 Okay. 17:28 Yeah, which is a version of C++. 17:30 Okay. 17:34 You got it going there, son. Almost, almost. 17:36 I know. 17:37 Sometimes, these things don't like to work 17:39 at the most important time. 17:41 So C Sharp is the version of C++? 17:44 Right, right, right, right, right. 17:46 So it's coding. Okay. 17:47 You know, most people... 17:48 We say programming, but the term 17:50 that people usually use is coding. 17:51 Coding. Okay. Yeah. So it's coding. 17:54 And so I teach four semesters of robotics. 17:57 So that's the robotics, robot design, robot coding, 18:01 and then they have an advanced class 18:03 where they learn how to use the circuit board there. 18:05 Wow! Yeah. 18:07 So you see he's going back and forth 18:08 and as he flex there. 18:11 Wow! Yeah. 18:13 That is amazing. 18:17 What advice do you have for someone 18:19 who wants to get involved with a robotics program? 18:25 So, you know, as with Robert, 18:27 I got him involved early on. 18:31 I'm going to go ahead and disconnect it there. 18:32 Yeah. You can. 18:33 Got him involved early on in the program, 18:36 and, you know, we had competitions. 18:40 And that gave them the intrinsic motivation 18:44 to learn the stuff and compete. 18:46 And so my advice to parents is to find 18:48 some type of some program 18:50 to get your kids involved at an early age. 18:53 And statistics tell us, with the FIRST, 18:55 they had a longitudinal study done 18:57 by Brandeis University. 18:59 And the study showed that when kids are introduced 19:02 to a STEM program 19:03 or robotics program early on in their life, 19:06 they're more likely than their counterparts 19:08 to pursue a STEM degree at the post-secondary level. 19:12 And let me give you some numbers. 19:13 Okay. 19:15 So for African-Americans, the number is 5% 19:18 of all African-Americans right now 19:20 who want to pursue a career in STEM. 19:22 Okay. 19:24 Being involved with robotics, that number jumps about 26%. 19:28 Wow! Right, right, right. 19:30 And then... 19:31 So from 5% to 26%? To 26%. 19:33 Okay. 19:35 And then what we find, 19:36 you know, if they're not involved 19:38 with robotics, that 5%, 19:40 two-thirds drop out after the first year 19:44 because they have developed 19:45 what we call them some competencies to survive 19:48 and that STEM knowledge resilience 19:51 or the term is grip, that's also used. 19:53 Okay. 19:54 Also, the growth in mindset is the term that's used. 19:58 And so with the robotics program, 20:00 they fail often. 20:02 Okay. 20:04 Early, but they learn from the failures, 20:05 and they develop grip. 20:08 You know, when you look at the guy 20:10 who made the light bulb, Edison, 20:13 how many times has he failed? 20:16 You know, 999 times, but he didn't give up. 20:21 But most black kids when they face that, 20:24 or underserved kids, 20:25 when they face that first wall and they fail, 20:30 they just give up right away. 20:32 And so the robotics program teaches them that resilience 20:35 and that failure is a part of innovating. 20:37 It's a part 20:38 of that engineering design process, 20:40 you either way... 20:41 Why didn't it work the first time, 20:43 you go back to figure it out. 20:45 And if you look at the history of innovation, 20:47 that's how America was built. 20:49 Absolutely. 20:50 I mean... 20:51 You're just not successful in everything. 20:53 For first time. That's right. That's right. 20:54 Exactly, like you get on a bike, 20:56 you ride a bike, 20:57 you're going to fall down, but you get back up, 20:58 and you start paddling again. 21:00 That's right. That's right. 21:01 But we're finding that underserved kids 21:04 would see that as 21:05 "I'm not being intelligent enough to make it." 21:09 And then there are some external factors 21:11 that we're also saying, "Yeah, you can't do it. 21:13 You know, give up," the parents might say, 21:15 there are some teachers. 21:17 But that's one of the biggest lessons 21:19 that they've learned is, 21:21 "Hey, you can do it, stick with it, don't give up." 21:24 So it sounds like a really supportive environment 21:27 and nurturing one as well 21:30 because a lot of times you see people 21:32 that might not catch your vision, 21:35 and they put it down because they can't see it. 21:37 Right, right, right. 21:38 But if everybody were to give up 21:40 and stop right then, 21:42 well, we wouldn't have a viewing audience. 21:45 That's right. 21:47 That's the truth. That's the truth. 21:48 And the other thing 21:50 that we've learned as you study this, 21:52 you know, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, 21:56 that individuals that were labeled 21:58 as having learning disabilities when they were growing up. 22:02 And teachers are saying that they were done, 22:03 they couldn't learn. 22:05 And their parents didn't accept that. 22:07 Their parents took them out of those learning environments, 22:10 homeschooled them and trained them 22:12 and placed them in an environment 22:14 to be successful. 22:15 And look what they've achieved. 22:17 And so that's what we want to happen with these kids. 22:20 And with robotics, one of the huge differences is, 22:23 you know, when you're sitting in a class, 22:25 someone's telling you, "Oh, this is how it is. 22:28 This is why it is and nothing's different." 22:32 But when you come into robotics, 22:34 you're discovering, you have to learn on your own. 22:37 You're figuring it out, 22:39 you know, you're plugging in and see 22:40 if it works and then just... 22:42 Many different things like that. 22:45 So a lot of trial and error and experimenting 22:47 and stuff like that. 22:49 And you get that gratification from when you finally get it. 22:52 Yeah. 22:53 You know, you finally see... 22:55 It's got to be really cool to take a concept 22:58 and create something in your mind. 23:00 That's right. 23:01 But then create it, 23:03 and it actually like comes to life, like that hand. 23:05 That's right. 23:07 You see that hand contracting, and you built that. 23:10 You know, that is an awesome feeling. 23:13 And you know, Ellen G. White speaks to that. 23:15 You know, she talks about in her book, 23:17 Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students 23:19 that we should give kids imaginary work, 23:22 that we need to get them real authentic learning. 23:25 So in other words, no busywork. No busywork. 23:28 That's exactly right. 23:29 And she also talks about the fact 23:31 that we need to develop wise plans 23:35 to educate our kids and that the methods 23:37 that we have used in the past in our schools have retarded 23:41 the work 23:44 because she's saying that we need to produce kids 23:46 who are capable to come into work 23:48 in the institutions, 23:50 you know, 3ABN, you have networks, 23:51 you have computers, you have cameras, 23:53 you need engineers 23:55 and smart people to make sure that stuff works. 23:57 And so we need to be 23:58 providing education for them to learn 24:01 how to do that. 24:04 Robert, what kind of impact have you seen 24:09 through participating in robotics, 24:11 like what kind of impact has that had on your life? 24:14 Yeah, so the first thing is just self-confidence 24:18 and how smart you are. 24:20 I realized that I am smart, and I can learn. 24:23 It's just I have a different way of learning. 24:25 And then the second thing is not only did I notice it 24:28 but my friends as well, 24:30 you know, like they started come 24:31 to me like, "Robert, your genius." 24:33 Or like, "Robert, how did you do that?" 24:34 And they're just... 24:35 Yeah. 24:37 So like, you know, when you're doing it, 24:38 when I was making all this stuff, 24:39 I didn't really realize, like how, 24:41 like you know, I guess... 24:42 What you were doing, what you were learning. 24:43 Yeah, how difficult it was because this is something 24:45 that I just love to do, and I think a lot about it. 24:48 And then, yeah, 24:49 it's just also kind of put me like in classes, 24:52 I got more focused and realized 24:53 that this is something I can do. 24:56 So it really helped 24:57 to boost your confidence, right? 24:59 Yeah. Okay. 25:01 You know, as I'm thinking about this, 25:04 it seems like it would be something 25:05 that would be good to reduce the recidivism, right? 25:08 So for people that are getting out of prison, 25:10 they can learn this skill, learn this trade, 25:14 and create things, and make a way for themselves, 25:19 also churches. 25:20 Sure, sure. 25:22 You know, so I work 25:23 for the Florida Conference of STEM Adventism. 25:25 One of our initiatives 25:26 is to develop innovative ministries 25:29 using robots and technology. 25:31 And one of the things that we're planning now 25:33 is IT certifications. 25:36 And we'll learn that virtually. 25:38 Our schools, high schools and universities or colleges, 25:41 are not producing enough IT professionals. 25:44 And so the industry itself has created 25:46 what we call certifications 25:49 where you can display your knowledge, 25:51 and Microsoft has them, Cisco, A+, Network+. 25:55 And so I had a conversation 25:56 with the CIO of Adventist Health System. 25:58 He said, "Robert, you get them certified, 26:00 I will hire them." 26:01 Wow! 26:03 And so with those individuals, 26:06 that this is a skill set that they can learn 26:09 and with the partnership with testout.com, 26:12 they can learn it virtually anywhere, 26:14 in prison or wherever there's a computer. 26:16 You can learn it and start a business 26:18 and gain a skill 26:19 that you can go out into the workforce 26:21 and do something with your life. 26:23 Absolutely, and that's a huge incentive. 26:25 It is. It is. 26:26 I mean, they have a job placement. 26:28 Right away because if you can do it, 26:29 they'll hire you. 26:31 And that's a big need. 26:32 The other option is robotics and the evangelism. 26:36 We just finished a one-week robotics camp 26:39 at the Boys & Girls Club in Orlando. 26:41 Nice. Downtown Orlando. 26:44 And it was for underserved kids. 26:46 And they don't have this stuff in their schools, 26:48 and so we're going to them. 26:50 It's a one-time event, 26:51 so we're looking to provide a year-round 26:55 robotics program for them to have access to this. 26:58 And then, you know, once parents realize 27:01 that you are investing in their kids, 27:04 you know, they're going to want to learn more about you. 27:06 You know, oftentimes, you go wherever the evangelism, 27:08 we put up a tent, and we preach something there. 27:11 But this way, we're giving them a skill set, 27:14 I'm investing in you. 27:15 And that's how Jesus did. That's the Christ's method. 27:19 He met the needs, and then He ministered. 27:20 So these are proper ways to evangelize 27:23 and to save lives. 27:25 Wow! That is amazing. 27:27 And anybody can get involved. 27:29 Yes, anybody, 27:30 and we're always looking for volunteers. 27:32 Now they can log on to at www.FloridaConference.com 27:36 to find out more information about the robotics program 27:40 or how to implement it there. 27:41 And they can contact me 27:42 at Robert.Henley @FloridaConference.com 27:46 Wow! Okay. 27:47 Well, thank you so much for coming on 27:49 and sharing all that wonderful information 27:52 with us today. 27:54 Hopefully, more people will get involved 27:56 in the robotics. 27:57 I mean this is an excellent trade to have. 28:00 And thank you for joining us. 28:02 Well, we've reached the end of another program. 28:03 Join us next time. 28:05 Remember, this wouldn't be the same without you. |
Revised 2024-05-07