The tech titan held the Geek Street Fair at Hudson Park yesterday, celebrating the tech community in New York City. With an open invitation to summer camps, children traveled around the park exploring each exhibit. The purpose of this event was to help kids learn about STEM. The educational acronym stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Google’s Global Communications and Public Affairs Manager Rebecca Ginsberg divulged that the Geek Street Fair had hoped to alter the perception of STEM. Rebecca felt that the abbreviation usually had a “nerdy” connotation. Also, she felt that that the Chelsea neighborhood had fostered excellent growth for the tech community. Google has had a New York presence for 10 years and wanted to work with other organizations to continue this development.
In the park’s circle, the fair had a diverse selection of exhibitions. Representatives from NYU and Parsons kept kids’ attention with explanations on brainwaves and robots. At the end of STEM spectrum was The Museum of Mathematics, which gave visitors a brain-teasing challenge of a No Left Turns maze. Ultimately, Google’s two displays attracted the most attention among visitors.
Chrome Experiments maintained a consistent packed crowd throughout the day as campers enjoyed they games they offered. Roll It was a classic skeet-shoot game where players used their phones as a remote control to emphasize the multi-platform support Chrome has. The Maker Camp was a Google+ hangout imagined as a virtual camp for teens to explore other aspects of technology in a six-week intensive.
The heavily hyped piece of wearable tech could be seen around the park as white-shirt organizers and Google execs discussed their new product. The fair lasted from noon to 6 p.m. with an open invitation to anyone walking by.
