#IStandWithAhmed: Celebrate And Support Young Makers
American'teen Ahmed Mohamed made international headlines after he was arrested earlier this week for bringing a homemade clock to school. The 14-year-old Texan brought his creation to show his teacher, who mistook it for a bomb.
The incident generated a social media firestorm – with many people throwing their support behind Mohamed, even starting an #IStandWithAhmed hashtag.
Some of Mohamed’s high profile supporters included US President Barack Obama, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg – who invited Mohamed to the White House, Toronto, and Facebook headquarters respectively.
Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.
— President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015
Hi @IStandWithAhmed ! I’d love you to join us for our science show Generator in Toronto on 28 Oct. There’s a ticket waiting for you.
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) September 16, 2015
Mohamed and his family were touched by the outpouring of support and positive feedback – as displayed by the teen’s comments during a media scrum.
Mohamed’s creativity and ingenuity provide a great reason of why it is important to support young makers by providing them with encouragement and access to technology resources and training.
Toronto is one of many cities around the world with a thriving maker movement, including maker spaces that are child and family friendly, such as Maker Kids and STEAMLabs; the latter is hosting a clock making hackathon on Sept 24, 2015, in celebration of Mohamed. Organizations such as Get Your Bot On, Girls Learning Code, Logics Academy and Mozilla Hive provide fantastic technology programs.
Toronto Public Library’s (TPL) Digital Innovation Hubs and maker spaces at other North American libraries, such as Innisfil, Edmonton, and Chicago, are welcoming a new audience of young makers who are getting exposure to technology such as 3D printers, Arduino micro controllers, and digital media tools.
At TPL, we have seen young makers create wonderful projects, such as: young Jacob, who 3D designed a prosthetic limb; kids at Maker Festival who created wood-crafted boats; Barbara Frum Branch’s Lego and K’Nex Club’s fun architecture builds; and other cool creations at Fort York Branch, After School Clubs and Northern District Branch’s robotics club for teens.
The philosophy at a maker space is simple: This is a safe space to let your imagination run wild.
11 thoughts on “#IStandWithAhmed: Celebrate And Support Young Makers”
Great post, Ab.! The outpouring of support for Ahmed has been so heartwarming.
This story literally brought tears to my eyes! I hope Ahmed strives for the stars…such a smart kid!
Obama, Chris Hadfield AND Mark Zuckerberg? Wow! I got goosebumps reading about Ahmed. Thanks for sharing the positive outcomes of this story, Ab. 🙂
Thanks Kate. So glad that the positive outcome of Ahmed’s humiliation is that he’s getting some love and shoutouts from such high profile folks and the general public. Also glad that he’s moving to a new school that will hopefully have a less severe reaction to his future inventions!
I predict he’s got some exciting times ahead of him. 🙂
Thanks Suzanne. 🙂 Those three were just some of his fans. I think Hillary Clinton, Google, and NASA also gave him a nice shoutout.
“I think I’ll build this “clock” full of wires and I think I’ll just happen to put it into a thing that looks like a briefcase and bring it to school and see if anyone thinks it’s strange. I’ll show it to a teacher first thing and he’ll say, “That’s interesting. Better not show it to anyone else because they might think it’s a bomb, but screw that, I’m showing it to everybody, and plugging it into the wall, because it’s just a ‘clock’ housed by a briefcase so it looks like every bomb from every ’70s TV show ever made. Hey they called the cops. I’m so shocked and appalled!”
Hi Joe, the teen repeatedly told his teacher it was a clock. Even the police later admitted they never thought it was a bomb but yet they still humiliated the boy. Some judgment on the officials’ end – e.g. not using 70s TV shows as a reference point – would’ve saved some embarrassment for all parties involved. But as noted in the comments above, the silver lining in all this is that this kid is getting some love and recognition for his talent.
The important thing is that everyone learned not to say anything next time some guys are putting a bag containing some pressure cookers at the finish line of the Boston Marathon because hey, they’re just pressure cookers, and the guys are probably way into science. Hey, what’s Martin Richard doing these days? He getting any White House invites or Z-berg shoutouts?
Great post, Ab! This incident is an example of how racism and fear-mongering can inhibit us, individually and as a society. I’m glad to see there are so many maker groups out there… I had no idea!
Thanks Sarah! It is indeed an exciting time for “making” in Toronto! =)