National Stem Day

Welcome to Fox 5 Weekend Live. I'm Maureen Umeh. We've got a jammed show for you today. Lots of interesting guests, lots of interesting topics. We're starting off Fox 5 Weekend Live on a Sunday, November 8th, with National STEM Day. That is happening today. We're looking at why introducing children to science, technology, engineering, and math early can really make a difference. And joining us now live is Ramon Reyes, owner of Code Ninjas Arlington. Ramon, welcome to Fox 5 Weekend Live. Yes, ma'am. Good morning. I'm glad to be here. I'm going to ask you to just pause one bit because I cannot hear you. Oh, can you hear me now? There we go. You got me? Yes, ma'am. I can hear you loud and clear. My apologies. This is what happens on live TV sometimes. And I have to say the fault is mine because I didn't have my IP in when we were doing live segments here. But nonetheless, thank you for being with us today. I want to jump right in. You know, we're talking about STEM. I guess the first question for me is why do you think it's important to get children interested in STEM at an early age. Absolutely. So National STEM Day celebrates science, technology, engineering, and math. You know, it's an event that helps children see that their ideas can become something real. You know, families should celebrate because, you know, a child's curiosity today can, you know, can grow into the confidence to solve the problems of tomorrow. You know, here at Code Ninjas, we bring these ideas to life by helping kids, you know, build their own video games, for example, program robots and explore AI. You know, when a child says, hey, mom, hey, dad, I made that work, that, you know, they're discovering what they're capable of. You know, families can spark that same excitement at home by building something together, testing and asking. You know, how could we make it better? Right. And so tell me about that because you have Code Ninjas and apparently your daughter had something to do with this. Tell me that back story. Yes, ma'am. So, you know, my daughter was actually the inspiration for bringing Code Ninjas to Arlington. You know, when she attended another Code Ninjas location, you know, I saw her confidence grow as she learned to code. You know, what really stayed with me was, you know, seeing that confidence extend beyond the computer.