As our lead instructors entered the PAC (performing arts center) in floor length gowns, the stage lights dimmed to reveal Professor Chris Dumbledore standing on a stage set up like the Great Hall in Harry Potter. This truly magical evening began by enlightening the audience about the fascinating workshops here at Sci-Tech School of Wizardry. In our Harry Potter themed Tech Talks we heard all about the power our young wizards yielded over these past two weeks. For the muggles reading this, alternate meanings can be found in between parenthesis.
BioZone
The first workshop we heard from was BioZone. In this class young wizards began the session by reciting the Hippocratic Oath, after which they received their white robes (white coat ceremony). From that point on they focused on the magic of healing by studying the essential skills of reading muggle vitals and how to care for them. Once they mastered these techniques they went on to dissect unicorn (sheep) brains. In the second week their studies shifted to transfiguration studies, also known as questioning the ethics involved in organ transplants. The class ended in discussion regarding magical potions (medicine) that could be of use in relation to transmittable diseases.
 
3D Animation
Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Severus Joe, recounted all the exciting charms his wizards used to animate images on electronic screen portals (computers). The youngest wizards of Sci-Tech learned how to put a spell on a ball to make it appear to bounce. Meanwhile our older wizards began casting spells with hard surface modeling and character rigs.

Chemistry
Our chemistry wizards worked up all kinds of potions!  They studied all about different chemical and physical changes including combustion, single replacement, and acid-base chemical reactions.  They even showed us a potion they worked on which could alter the color of water with just a few drops from a wand! They also conjured up candles to light their way home with.

Digital Film Production
Our Digital Film students split into production groups to write scripts, film, and edit their productions. In upper camp, half the class participated in the technical track where they refined their post production skills including editing preexisting films and music videos. Watch our creative productions below!

 

Earth and Sky 

This session wizards learned how to manipulate water. They learned about the magic behind the water cycle and how different forces, environmental factors, and human activity affect the water on Earth.  Additionally, in this workshop the class went all over campus to test water levels and specimen. At TECH talks they showed off their samples, including a bright red blood worm.
Programming and Coding
This session of Programming and Coding learned the basics of java syntax and jumped right into the exciting world of arrays and loops!  They focused on using logic and problem solving to learn developer skills that will help them all throughout their P&C careers.  Each camper then developed their own projects such as games, animations, and apps.
Robotics
Robotics wizards created so much this session.  After learning some robotics basics, wizards competed in challenges to test out their new skills.  Some of the challenges included building a replica of the Tabernacle, robot basketball, and robot soccer.  The oldest wizards in this workshop designed a rube Goldberg machine which had the end goal to press a “that was easy” button on a computer.

Start Up Nation
These wizards broke up into groups to put together a proposal for a business in the muggle world!
Group 1 – Track is an app for music lovers, which tracks artists’ album releases and concerts, for an easier update on artists’ activity
Group 2 – Historian is an educational computer games set. Historian uses data finding to not only teaching history, but also focus on search understanding and document reading. Historian – fun in learning!
Group 3 – Tripz is a creative mind app & website, which is based on the frequent miles model, and creates one unified points system for traveling. Conventions, road sites and even college trips, all travel gives you points that go to your account.
Group 4 – Owl Cafe focused on understanding the need for high schoolers to have a place to meet and study. Owl Cafe is a coffee shop for studying, alongside services such as: academic tutoring & s store for school supplies.
Group 5 – Print Alert is a unique product for makers and 3D printing hobbyists. The product is a set of plugs for any 3D printers, which transfer information to the app, such as: level of printing, printer’s heat temperature, printing errors and etc.
Group 6- Teach me Teach me was designed for the learning need of teenagers & young adults. Teach me is an online platform for searching and communicating, in order to find private lesson and mentoring for different skills.

Video Game Design
In Video Game Design and Muggle Studies, our wizards learned Kodu, Taleblazer, Unity, Scratch, Stencyl, and GameBlox. Using these 6 different tools they have been able to create amazing games involving mazes, platforms, and exploration. Testing out all the games in the quidditch pitch (hockey rink) was great fun for the entire school of wizardry. In fact, their work was so charming they are expected to receive an “O” on their OWLS.!

After TechTalks, campers gathered around the hockey rink to look back at all the fun they had over the past two weeks. Our slideshow made us all realize how fast time goes by when we’re enjoying every moment of camp. Afterwards, each hall made a circle with their counselors as we listened to camper reflections and took in the light from our candles. On top of that Tish’a B’Av was also that night so we gave the community a choice whether they wanted to take in the sweetness of the week or pass on the spices if they wanted to observe the holiday.
Overall Albus Dumbledore put it best when he said, “Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open”. At Sci-Tech we all may come from different backgrounds. Some of us lean more towards the science than the technology aspect and vice versa. In the end we all have different workshops (or houses) we belong to, but overall our aim is to make a single and inclusive Kehillah Kedoshah.