Jameson Harvey has had a whirlwind of a time running STEM workshops for kids in the north and has now travelled down to introduce Red Dirt Robotics to regional Victoria.
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Jameson Harvey, 2022 ABC Heywire Trailblazer, has made his way down from the north of the country to provide kids in Seymour and other regional Victorian towns with unique robotics workshops.
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In 2019, Jameson, who is the founder of Royal Robotics, began Red Dirt Robotics, a regional outreach program which takes “robotics and STEM education to little remote communities.”
Red Dirt Robotics was first a way for Jameson to blend his two passions of travelling and STEM.
“I didn’t feel like going to uni, I didn’t want to sit in another classroom for however many years,” Jameson said.
“I wanted to travel, but I didn’t want to give up all the STEM stuff that I’d come to love so much, so, I figured I could combine them both.”
Jameson did, however, quickly discover a love of spreading his knowledge to kids in remote areas who are otherwise unable to access the education that Red Dirt Robotics provides.
“Once I started getting out and about and visiting the schools in these regional, remote communities, I was seeing that there was a really big need for not just STEM education, but different things for the kids, because they don’t get a lot once you get a couple hours out from the bigger cities,” Jameson said
Jameson Harvey hopes to take Red Dirt Robotics “anywhere and everywhere.”
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Billie Davern
Following years of travelling across the north, from Queensland to Western Australia, Jameson has now received funding to pour his energy into regional Victoria.
Jameson will be based in Seymour, where he hopes to run monthly activities out of Gnarly Neighbours for all the kids in town, where he will work closely with fellow 2022 Heywire Trailblazer Jayden Sheridan.
For now, Jameson has “some stuff in the pipeline with St Marys and the schools out at Heathcote and Pyalong,” however, he said, “anywhere and everywhere is the goal.”
“The goal is to work with nearly 2000 kids this year,” Jameson said.
“There’s a lot of opportunities that kids in regional communities miss out on, and if they don’t know what’s out there, they’ll never go and pursue it.”
In its relatively brief history, Red Dirt Robotics has been proven to act as a facilitator for kids to discover their own love of STEM.
When Jameson went to Forsayth, a Queensland town of just 107 people, he was able to inspire one of the seven children at the local school to pursue an enterprise selling products made with a 3D printer at local markets.
“It was really, really cool, because it’s that entrepreneurial spirit that I’m all about,” Jameson said.
“Every now and then, she’ll send me a photo of the stuff she creates.
“That’s really special.”
Jameson will be offering a range of free STEM programs to regional Victorian schools this year.
Kids will be able to access captivating and fun coding, robotics, 3D printing and drone workshops.
But, what really makes these activities stand out is Jameson’s passion for promoting accessibility in regional areas, which has only grown over the last few years since Red Dirt Robotics’ founding.
“I just fell in love with being out in the parts that people normally wouldn’t go and seeing the kids light up when they get to be hands on with some of the cool tech that I like to play with,” Jameson said.
“I want to show these kids that they can do whatever they can think of.”
For more information, go to Red Dirt Robotics’ Facebook Page or website at royalrobotics.com.au/red-dirt-robotics
