In Washington, D.C., a nonprofit called Capitol City Robotics has spent the last several years proving that the most valuable thing a robot can teach a child isn’t engineering. It’s resilience. Founded in 2018 by Ryan Daza, the program brings together hundreds of students from pre-K through high school every week to design, build, code and compete. Older students mentor the younger ones, and the organization runs what Daza describes as a leadership academy built on design journals, data science and communication skills.
The numbers tell part of the story: about 40% of participants are female, 44% are students of color, and 30% receive scholarships. But the philosophy tells the rest. Daza says robotics teaches one of the most important lessons a kid can learn, how to fail and fail hard, and then treat that failure as data that points toward the next attempt. Students like 14-year-old Helen Sullivan, who calls the program one of her happy places, and 11-year-old Bae Zakrajsek, who’s working on a drone obstacle course, are living proof that the approach sticks.
For families here on the Suncoast, the takeaway is simple. Whether it’s a robotics club, a maker space or a weekend project in the garage, kids need room to break things, rebuild and keep going. Where do you see that kind of hands-on learning happening in our community?
