Lakewood Ranch nonprofit tricks kids into liking math

Lakewood Ranch resident Neirda Thompson-Pemberton is a civil engineer. It surprises her that so many children don’t know what engineers do for a living. 

When she speaks to kids and tells them, they’re interested at first until they find out how much math is involved. 

“Just because it would be a little bit hard, they won’t consider it,” she said. “Come on, kids. When’s the last time you put down a video game because it was hard? No, you sat there and played that sucker until you beat it.” 

In 2019, Thompson-Pemberton founded FUNducation, a nonprofit that, like its name, combines fun with STEAM education. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math. 

Thompson-Pemberton said STEAM education isn’t optional, it’s a necessity to keep children from falling behind on technologies that are developing around the world. And kids actually love STEAM as they don’t know they’re being educated. 

“We call it educational espionage,” Thompson-Pemberton said. “They come in for the fun, but they leave with the business.”

FUNducation serves kids in elementary school through high school. The youngest children start by playing with Legos. 

Not only do kids love playing with Legos, but there are robotic Legos that can be coded. The complexity grows along with the child.

“The smaller level is coding and design, so they’re just learning how to use the basic sensors with regular Lego bricks,” Thompson-Pemberton said. “On the higher side, their robots are as tall as you or I, but they’re not humanoid.”

The robots can perform tasks, such as throwing a ball or picking something up. There are two robotics teams, one for middle school students and one for high school students. 

The season runs from August through April, but FUNducation is year-round, so if students aren’t building or competing with a robot, they’re learning new concepts.

For the past two years, RND Automation has provided space in its Lakewood Ranch building to the robotics teams. RND specializes in custom automation. Tervis Tumblers are assembled using RND robots.

“They believe in the power of STEAM education. One of our students even interned for RND,” Thompson-Pemberton said. “It’s the most beautiful example of the community partnering with us and involving the workforce.” 

Aaron Laine is the executive managing director for RND. He said even staff members from the accounting department have become involved. They helped the kids with a business plan. 

“There’s a lot of people here who are passionate about robotics,” Laine said. “Several of our engineers and techs got involved, spending their time and trying to mentor the kids.”

The biggest challenge for the engineers is keeping the solutions to themselves. RND staff only provides facts and data. The students have to come up with the solutions on their own. 

Thompson-Pemberton’s goal is to move into a brick and mortar location within the next couple years, but for now, FUNducation relies on community partners like RND. The programs are also offered in schools and homes. A group of friends is all it takes to start a robotics team. 

While FUNducation is for boys and girls, Thompson-Pemberton is looking to engage more girls. She’s heard stories from parents that their daughters were offered STEAM opportunities, but walked into a room of all boys and didn’t want to stay.

“Our girls are still scared to get in there and scrap with the guys,” she said. “I stand a little taller so they know I’m in it with them.” 

Regardless of gender or anything else, Thompson-Pemberton said there is a skills gap among all students when it comes to STEAM. 

“A lot of students are just not getting into engineering and math,” she said. “There’s a test of the international market of students and the number that are graduating in those fields. The United States, as a whole, is falling behind.” 

The numbers are even lower for minorities and women. As a Haitian-American woman, Thompson-Pemberton falls into both categories, but her godfather was an engineer and her uncle was a mechanic. 

What’s called “tinkering” now is what used to get her in trouble as a kid because she was always taking things apart and putting them back together. 

“I love working with my hands and figuring stuff out. That’s what led me to engineering,” she said. “There are kids out there today who might be tinkerers, but they don’t know they can make money at it.”