Beauty and the Bolt is an educational non-profit that shares the fun of "making" in a way that resonates with anyone. Who ever decided that an engineer has to look, act, or dress a certain way? Through educational programming, accessible kits and digital media initiatives, our goal is to teach fabrication, engineering, and inventing to kids and young adults across the nation. We hope to show that everyone’s uniqueness and creativity brings value to our country - and that with the right skills, anyone truly can bring their imagination to life. Learn more about our offerings at beautyandthebolt.com, and subscribe to our free educational content at youtube.com/beautyandthebolt.
-- Mission
Beauty and the Bolt’s goal is to share engineering and the maker movement in a way that makes sense and is engaging to parts of the population that aren’t currently being reached out to. Who said an engineer has to look a certain way? Act a certain way? Dress a certain way? Our goal is to subliminally tell people that femininity and engineering are not mutually exclusive. Women and minorities are vastly underrepresented in the STEM workforce. Beauty and the Bolt aims to make learning engineering easy, cheap, and accessible for anyone - especially teens and young adults - while also encouraging creativity and individuality.
-- What We're Doing
In early 2016, Xyla approached Andrew with the concern that the tutorials being put out by think[box], the Case Western Reserve University makerspace, were putting off as many users as they were helping. Together they began working on a video series of tutorials meant to engage and entertain viewers of any background. Inspired by Belle’s quirky brilliance and courageous perseverance, each of our projects is an opportunity for anyone to learn and create. From short how-to videos and tutorials to explainations of popular technology and even math, we want to make sure that anyone interested in STEM has the resources to learn. We do our best to make each topic we cover approachable, fun, and interesting - without breaking the bank.
-- Initiatives
Below are descriptions of our initiatives from our website:
Students in Elementary, Middle, and High School hear a lot about Engineering, STEAM, Computer Science, etc — but often its just buzzwords. Gone are the days of shop class, and even robotics teams are rare as budgets shrink and student numbers grow. Beauty and the Bolt wants to change that – both through our online STEAM curriculums and through in-person, on-location training and exposure sessions at Primary Learning institutions. We aim to expose children and young adults to the art and joy of pure creation, while also creating lasting skills that can be transferred to their collegiate, professional, and even personal lives. We have a handful of active K-12 initiatives currently active or under development:
## Digital Curriculum – Learn to Make at Home or at Your Local Makerspace:
Our primary initiative and purpose is the creation of an accessible and comprehensive digital curriculum teaching anyone to make the things of their dreams, while learning STEAM in the process. Through our Youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/beautyandthebolt), its possible for students to directly engage with our team as they follow along on our tutorials, projects, and more. Our curriculum – and all supplemental materials available on our site – is absolutely free to use, whether its by the student alone, a group of parents with their kids, or even by public or private institutions as part of their official curriculum.
We also offer supplemental hardware and software kits to make following our tutorials easier. These kits include all the materials and parts needed to complete the projects seen in our videos. For larger groups we also offer all-inclusive MakerPax with all materials, tools, safety gear and more. Currently all kits are only available in quantities greater than 5 – contact us for more details or a quote for your group, classroom, or institution!
## DreamDays – We Bring STEAM Education to Your Students
Want to host a STEAM education day for students at your public or private school, or anywhere else for that matter? Beauty and the Bolt DreamDays brings our educational team to you! We’ll set up stations for our basic tutorials, bring all the equipment, provide highly-trained, background-checked staffing, and more! Students will walk away with a project they’ve made themselves, as well as exposure and knowledge in a whole new field!
We work closely with an institution to meet their needs – we can set up shop anywhere on your campus, provide all necessary equipment and safety gear, and develop custom projects that work for your students and learning objectives. DreamDays are provided at-cost, and almost always cost FAR less than even a small field trip! We are also always willing to work with institutions with little or no funding to create custom packages and source funding for your DreamDay. If you are interested in planning a DreamDay and beginning the quote process, contact us here!
## STEM Education Advocacy:
We are active members of the STEM education community, and work with local, regional, and national stakeholders to help ensure that STEM education is included in school districts, and in their strategic plans. We have been featured at CES on the Hill (2018) as the first-ever non profit to participate in the tech-advocacy event.
## Find a Makerspace:
Beauty and the Bolt maintains a detailed, searchable list of Makerspaces across the US and the world. By applying to be listed in our directory, makerspaces are creating a link to potential users, and with other Makerspaces in their region and country, by providing accessible information about hours, pricing, equipment, ADA accessibility, and more. We only list Makerspaces that can show a history of safe and responsible operation. Spaces can be for-profit or non-profit, as long as all pricing and membership details are readily accessible. Beauty and the Bolt also selects and lists “Recommended for Kids” Makerspaces from our directory – these are spaces that have gone the extra mile to make their space accessible and useable for children and young adults.
