A $13.8 million complex on the Brazos River will soon offer classes for all ages in hands-on subjects as varied as robotics, video game design and home cooking.
The Waco City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year contract with the education nonprofit Transformation Waco to operate the Bledsoe-Miller STEAM Center.
The city is repurposing the 1970s-era community center at 300 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. for the high-tech community hub with offerings in science, technology, engineering, arts and math, or STEAM.
Transformation will begin offering low-cost programming for all ages starting in February, with a budget of $1.47 million per year. The facility includes a kitchen, a gaming hub, an immersive lab and an audio recording studio.
“It’s going to change the game,” Council Member Andrea Barefield said in an interview before the council meeting. “In one space, you can take a cooking class, you can build a robot, you can 3D-print something, you can record a podcast, or your next top 10 R&B/country/rap/rock hit.
“You can do all of those things … in one building and right in the heart of our community, in the heart of our city,” said Barefield, whose East Waco district includes the STEAM center. “And so I think that the future is technological. We need to make sure we provide every opportunity we can for our residents.”
The idea for the STEAM center began years ago when Barefield drove her son to a weekly hip-hop architecture camp in Dallas.
“We gathered up some folks in the community, our industry partners, our education partners, to say, ‘You know what? What would it mean to you all to have an opportunity to do this, have a facility that not only offers entertainment, but can do things like advanced workforce, right?’” Barefield said.
Waco leaders chose Transformation Waco to run the center based on the nonprofit’s past experience running struggling schools in the Waco Independent School District. Transformation Waco spent a year working on the curriculum for the center and tested out programming through some of its camps.
“They were already very well connected within the community and could convene partners to look at what the needs are for the STEAM center,” said Roberto Zapata, the city’s director of library and cultural enrichment. “I think having that connectivity with the community and already having that experience with Waco ISD went a long way with the city.”
The center will employ 12 staffers, both full- and part-time. In addition, students 15 and older can apply for a six-month paid fellowship to work three hours a week for $10 per hour.
The STEAM center will offer a mixture of free and fee-based activities, and yearly memberships will be available for individuals and families.
The city is partnering on the project with corporate sponsors, local public schools and McLennan Community College, Texas State Technical College and Baylor University.
City officials also expect to generate revenue through sponsorships and facility rentals for businesses and birthday parties.
The nonprofit aims to use the center to enhance academics for students from prekindergarten to 12th grade, provide workforce development training, serve seniors and provide community and cultural connections.
“A through line throughout all the spaces is trying to spark interest in the STEM field, industry, local industry, and that our programming is tied to the skills that you would need to get a job and or skills that you could apply in higher education,” said Joshua Wucher, Transformation Waco’s chief communications and development officer.
The center will offer courses on robotics, coding, video game design, high school esports and cybersecurity. In addition, students will be able to take music, photography and audio and video editing classes.
Children ages 3 to 6 can attend weekly Little Lego Builders sessions or learn about plants, nutrition, and physical activity.
Elementary school students can participate in a Minecraft engineering class, an aquatic science club and hydroponic gardening.
The teaching kitchen will allow for classes for a cooking with culture class, “where it’s moms and dads and grandparents and kids learning together,” Wucher said. A camera will record the cooking demonstration live so attendees can follow along the process on a television.
Transformation Waco plans to use the center to expand its technology-related “Senior Planet” program for seniors 60 and older, offering classes such as smartphone photography. The nonprofit will also continue to offer some of those classes in local public libraries.
Future programming includes a hip-hop architecture camp, which will be free for students, robot coding and game design. Students in fifth grade or below will need an adult or guardian to accompany them at the STEAM center. For more information on future programming and classes, visit the STEAM Center’s website.
