NEW YORK, June 14, 2012 – Mouse, a national nonprofit organization that empowers and inspires underserved youth, is pleased to announce its students being recognized for their innovative projects at the 4th Annual Emoti-Con! 2012 Digital Media and Technology Challenge! Emoti-Con! brings together middle and high school students from across New York City to share their passions in technology, present their digital creations, and network with peers and industry professionals.

“Emoti-Con! is an extremely unique opportunity to showcase the work of a new generation of innovators and thinkers, who are passionate about sharing their perspectives and making a positive change in the world through digital media and technology,” said Marc Lesser, Education Director, Mouse.

More than 150 students presented their technology projects at Emoti-Con! 2012, through their involvement with other NYC-based nonprofit organizations including DreamYard, The Museum for African Art, The Parsons Scholars Program, Girls Write Now, Global Kids, WNYC Radio Rookies, Mouse, New York Public Library, and Institute of Play.

Sixty students and educators attended from Mouse, presenting a wide range of technology and digital media projects involving 3D printing and design, anti-bullying games and videos, and technology to assist the visually impaired or those with special needs.

Youth projects were judged in the following categories: Best Pitch, Most Innovative, Most Potential for Social Impact, Most Entertaining and Favorite Project. Students from Mouse were honored to be recognized with three of these five awards. Judged by their peers, the Emoti-Con! 2012 winning projects were:

• Best Pitch and Favorite Project: The Dining Band, designed and developed by Mouse high school students, this project provides a location and temperature sensor wrist band to assist the blind or visually impaired while eating
• Most Innovative: T.A.P. Project, created by the P256Q Mouse Squad, includes a series of assistive technology inventions that offer easy solutions to everyday tasks involving fine motor skills
• Most Potential for Social Impact: A multimedia documentary about “stop and frisk” produced by a high school student through his participation in WNYC Radio Rookies
• Most Entertaining: A space-themed video game built on Scratch and Arduino, designed and programmed by a 6th grader during an after school program with Institute of Play

Emoti-Con! is designed, organized and led by youth that are guided by a steering committee of educators and youth professionals from Global Kids, Mouse, New York Public Library and Parsons The New School for Design. These organizations, as well as those that brought youth to present projects, are all members of Hive Learning Network NYC, a network of 39 nonprofit organizations dedicated to creating new digital learning opportunities for youth.

“Emoti-Con! illustrates what’s possible when organizations and youth from across the city come together to celebrate their passion for creating, building, making and learning using digital media and technology,” said Chris Lawrence, Director of Hive Learning Network NYC. “The entire process – from developing their projects to meeting with successful media and technology professionals – offers youth a transformative learning and entrepreneurial experience and reveals real pathways towards college and career readiness.”

About Mouse 
Mouse empowers underserved youth to learn, lead and create with technology, preparing them with skills essential for their academic and career success. Founded in New York City in 1997, Mouse is a dynamic nonprofit organization having a positive and lasting impact on students in more than 350 locations in the United States, including in New York, California, Chicago and Texas, as well as a global presence in more than 50 countries. To learn more about Mouse, visit http://www.mouse.org.

About Hive Learning Network
NYC: Hive Learning Network NYC is a Mozilla project that was founded through The MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media & Learning initiative to fuel collaborations between cultural organizations and create new learning pathways and innovative education practices together. Hive NYC is comprised of thirty-nine nonprofit organizations—museums, libraries, media and other youth-facing organizations—that create opportunities for youth to explore their intellectual and skill-based interests using digital media and other technologies. Network members have access to funding to support this work through The Hive Digital Media Learning Fund in The New York Community Trust. For more information please visit www.explorecreateshare.org. Also visit http://www.facebook.com/EmotiConNYC ¬or Twitter @EmotiCon_NYC.

Contact

Susan Schwartz 
Communications Director, Mouse
susan@mouse.org

Lainie DeCoursy
Communications Manager, Hive Learning Network NYC/Mozilla Foundation
lainie@mozillafoundation.org
917-607-2525