DML Apprenticeship Summer 2023

This summer we partnered with NYCDOE's Division of Multilingual Learners (DML) and launched a teen Apprenticeship program. DML Apprenticeship offers immigrant and multilingual students the opportunity to participate in a fully in-person program where they engage with and design a series of STEM-related hands-on projects.

Our Apprentices first completed 3 of their programs introductory projects: Pocket Plants, LED Flowers, and Tote Bags & Candles; and are now working on their final project, Lamps.

LED Flowers

Youth in our Apprenticeship program designed flowers with acrylic and later constructed LED lights into the flower to light it up. During this process they used tools like soldering irons, laser cutters, and learned skills such as how to light up an LED light, circuitry and how to design and bend acrylic.

Pocket Plants

Tote Bags & Candles

While designing the tote bags with natural dyes, Apprentices learned about the Japanese Tataki-zomé techniques, also known as “flower pounding.” Using this process youth created prints onto their tote bags with natural plants that they collected. Also during the candle making process, youth learned about measurement, temperatures, volume of candle mold, and determining the melting point of wax.

Apprentices constructed simple wooden structures that were later used as plant propagation machines. During this process youth learned how to use common tools for woodworking like chop saw, drill press, bandsaw, jigsaw, drills and impact driver. Youth also learned soft skills such as teamwork, how to communicate effectively, shop safety, and skills sharing.

Lamps

For their final project, Apprentices were grouped together and created lamps using the skills they had learned through the introductory projects. During the process of creating their lamps Apprentices worked through three different phases: ideation, modeling and then fabrication.

Ideation

During the ideation phase, youth were presented with certain materials and based on the materials they had available to them, each youth created a sketch of their own for the lamps. Afterwards, they came back as a group and took inspiration from each other's sketches for a final group sketch.

Modeling

Once the final sketch was completed, the students created blueprints of the parts that they will need to construct the lamp. These blueprints included dimensions and then they used these measurements to start making scale models of their lamps out of cardboard and hot glue.

Fabrication

After they were done creating their models with cardboard, Apprentices moved into their final phase; fabrication. During this phase youth worked on their lamps in parts like creating the body, shade and circuitry to light the lamps. This allowed the Apprentice to watch each component come together into a complete project and to see other lamps come together as inspiration for their own process.

This Friday, we will celebrate our DML Teen Apprentices through a show and tell, and carnival games. Youth will have the opportunity to present their project to each other and Beam staff members.

Follow along on our social media to see our Apprentices celebrating their hard work and each other!