Education Day at Maker Faire

CONTACT: 
Mark Ballard
(212) 255-8455 ext. 225
mark@rosengrouppr.com

Rachel Sussman
(212) 255-8455 ext. 214
rachel@rosengrouppr.com 	   	

Sara Peyton
(707) 827-7118
peyton@oreilly.com


Education Day at Maker Faire
Friday, May 2: Special Day for Students and Teachers

Sebastopol, CA-Friday, May 2nd, Maker Faire will host its first-ever
Education Day, a special day of programming allowing students and teachers
to meet and interact with some of this year's Makers. Celebrating things
people create themselves-from electronic gizmos to renewable energy and
homemade food and clothes, Maker Faire, put on by Make Magazine and Craft
Magazine, is the world's premier event for DIY (Do It Yourself)
creativity.

"With budget cuts hitting schools nationwide, classes like shop, art and
home economics are sadly disappearing," lamented Maker Faire founder Dale
Dougherty. "As a result, today's students are less capable of working with
their hands. These hands-on skills are absolutely vital to engineers,
scientists, mechanics, chefs, and hundreds of other essential
professions."

Makers on hand to inspire the students will include: Chris James from the
Star Wars-inspired R2 Builders Club, motion control artist Bruce Shapiro,
Mark Perez and his life-sized game of "Mousetrap," Mike Phillips and his
self balancing scooter, Nate Ball-host of PBS' "Design Squad"-rappelling
Spiderman-style on his ATLAS Powered Rope Ascender, Kristen Henry and her
GalaxyGoo, The Paper Airplane Guy, Howtoons, many more.

"My students are very interested in science, but many of them don't know
what type of future they can have in a science, math, and engineering,"
explained Michael Brayman, Earth Science teacher at the Latino College
Preparatory Academy in San Jose. "I try to expose them to as many
different career opportunities as possible so that they may find that
subject that interests them. The Maker Faire is a wonderful place to
gather ideas and concrete examples for my classroom."

Education Day participation is FREE to registered and approved school
groups of ten or more. The program is designed for students in sixth grade
and above. Registration forms can be found here:
http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2008/education/.

The schedule for the day is as follows:

- Middle School: 10am - Noon, (arrive by 9:45am)
- High School/College: 1pm - 4pm, (arrive by 12:45pm)
- Open House preview for Bay Area teachers: 4pm - 6pm

Several Maker Faire sponsors will be creatively involved with Education
Day. Microsoft will be offering introductory courses on programming, web
design, and mashup (compositions of online services via Microsoft Popfly)
creation. PBS' Peabody-award winning teen competition show, "Design
Squad," in partnership with Intel, will also be on hand giving kids the
opportunity to test out some of the hands-on engineering activities such a
Pop Fly and Dance Pad that were inspired by the show.

Named "Best Special Event" at the 2007 FOLIO FAME Awards and "Best Series
of Events" at the 2008 FOLIO FAME Awards, the 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire
will take place May 3rd and 4th at The San Mateo County Event Center and
Fairgrounds.

Event sponsors include Microsoft, Adobe Systems, Chronicle Books, Epilog
Laser, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Lion Brand Yarn, Sakura, ShopBot Tools,
Current TV, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Singer, SparkFun
Electronics, Sun and Walt Disney Company.

Maker Faire -- Event Details:

- When: "Education Day" Friday, May 2, 2008 (private)
      Saturday, May 3, 2008 (10am - 10pm)
      Sunday, May 4, 2008 (11am - 6pm)
- Where: The San Mateo County Event Center and Fairgrounds
      2495 South Delaware Street, San Mateo, CA
- Admission: Adults: $25/$20 in advance; Students (13-21): $15/$10 in
advance; Youth (4-12): $10/$5 in advance; and children under 4 are free 

*FREE Maker Faire tickets to the first 250 Bay Area teachers (deadline:
April 25). Sign up here: http://makerfaire.com/bayarea/2008/education/

For the very latest information and updates, please visit:
www.makerfaire.com

For press information and registration please contact Mark Ballard at
212-255-8455 or Mark@rosengrouppr.com.

About Maker Faire
Maker Faire is the premier event for grassroots American innovation. The
event started in San Mateo, California in 2006 and expanded to Austin,
Texas in 2007. Held annually in each of these locations, the event may
expand elsewhere in the future. Maker Faire is supported by Make Magazine
and Craft Magazine and O'Reilly Media the premier information source for
leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences, and
web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators.

About O'Reilly
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online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media
has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in
on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by
amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the
future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has
a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

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