The Wire

On Saturday, June 11th, over 300 guests gathered at the gorgeous Bartos Forum at the main branch of the New York Public Library to celebrate our 8th annual Emoti-Con! It was the biggest turnout to date. Over the years, Emoti-Con has become NYC's biggest showcase for young designers, makers, technologists, and tinkerers who believe in digital innovation as a tool for positive change in the world around them.

We had students and educator reps hailing from organizations across New York City including Mouse, Allstar Code, City Pathways, def hacks(), Global Kids, Grand Street Settlement, Independent High School Startup, Innovation Labs, KOKO Open Source, Lower East Side Girls Club, NYC Parks, Parsons Scholars Pre-College Program, Pearl Hacks, ScriptEd, The Knowledge House, and Urban Arts Partnership.

We kicked off the day with a networking hour for our student presenters. Professionals from a variety of fields and professions were there to facilitate informal/informational chats about specific topics including: what it’s like to be an engineer; using tech to change the world; game design and games for good; coding, entrepreneurship; art and tech; and user experience and interface.

Our three Keynote speeches were also a hit!

• Kaho Abe and Ramsey Nasser, a dynamic game designing duo, kicked off the talks and even featured an immersive activity to give the audience a taste of what game designing and piloting feels like.
• Austin Carvey, an Emoti-Con alum and co-founder of Young Hackers, gave us some insight on being a young designer and hacker and finding your way to a path you love.
• Lucy Jones wrapped up the day for us with a beautiful presentation on her accessible, “seated design”--a clothing line developed specifically for those confined to a wheelchair.

We had some incredible projects taking home prizes and some pretty amazing 3D printed trophies!

The winners this year were:

Point of View: Styling with the Stars: Election Edition by ScriptEd
Most Entertaining: Alarm Clock Slippers by Mouse Squad @ Baruch High School
Most Social Impact: Ears Wide Open by Radio Rookies, Global Kids @ School for Human Rights)
Most Innovative: Vakway by Baruch College Campus High School
Best Pitch: Panda’s Box by Mouse Design League
Crowd Favorite: Panda’s Box by Mouse Design League

Congrats to those awesome teams!

The Honorable Mentions were:

• Best Pitch: Kinet-X, Independent High School Startup
• Point Of View: Pocket Texter, def hacks()
• Most Social Impact: Homeless Awareness, Innovation Labs
• Most Entertaining: Girls Matter, Global Kids
• Most Innovative: 1derphone, Mouse Design League

Of course, we are particularly proud and humbled to see so many of our own Mouse Squad and Design League students sharing their talent at such an event!

This year we had the following Mouse projects in the house:

• 1derphone by Mouse Design League
• Alarm Clock Slippers by the Baruch High School Mouse Squad
• Box 2.0 by the Stephen A. Halsey JHS 157Q Mouse Squad
• Deal with SAT/ACT Stress by Gaming by the Baruch High School Mouse Squad
• Get Up: Do Good, Have Fun- The Easy Way by the Baruch High School Mouse Squad
• Lazer Lane Builder by Mouse Design League
• Panda’s Box by Mouse Design League
• Speak-EZ by Mouse Design League
• Teens Saving Teens by the PS 256 Q Mouse Squad
• The Power of Wind by the Baruch High School Mouse Squad

Mouse would like to give a huge thank you, first and foremost, to all of our coordinating organizations--New York Public Library, Hive NYC and Hive Research Lab, Parsons School of Design, and Urban Arts Partnership--and congratulations to all the students who contributed such amazing visions, ideas, and new tech, as well as to those who came out to cheer on their peers and enjoy a great day of new technology and fun! We’ll see you all next year!