Teen Tech Week 2015: Meme All the Shirts!

For Teen Tech Week this year, we had Chromebooks set up at Municipal Library with tabs open to a few popular meme making sites such as memegenerator.com and www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk. After teens had made their custom meme, we flipped the image and printed it out on iron transfer paper, then put them on t-shirts! Awesome wearable art! We had 11 teens show up and make stuff to wear home! Someone even came to the library the next day wearing the shirt they made!

Mario Night

As part of Teen Tech Week, we had our first-ever Mario Night last Friday.  Fourteen people showed up and we had fun playing all kinds of Mario games.  We played Mario Kart Wii, various Mario games on DS, Dr. Mario on the NES, and a variety of other Mario games on a second Wii.  I also gave away random Mario prizes throughout the evening.  (If you want your own Mario stuff, go to Five Below...they have all kinds of candy, toys, and t-shirts!)

Competition was tough in the Mario Kart Wii tournament!  Rather than brackets, we compiled points for the races.  After two rounds of two races each, the four guys with the most points moved on to the finals.  Roy, Jamie, Alex, and Colin competed, and it was a nail-biter.  Colin beat Roy by one point!  Colin received a $10 Wawa gift card and Roy got a Mario t-shirt.  All four finalists also got candy.

I had been bragging for a while before the event that nobody could beat me at Dr. Mario.  I pretty much killed everyone with my skills...except for Jaime.  In my defense, I didn't practice beforehand,  it was my first game, and I voluntarily took the broken controller.  Nonetheless, he did beat me and I can accept that.  He was the only person who got candy in the Dr. Mario competition!  I am definitely buying a new controller from eBay!

Thanks to David for providing his Wii and games, John for controlling the controllers, and Colin for bringing his N64.  Look for our regular Nintendo Night tournament on the spring program schedule.

iPod Music Party

On Wednesday, 11 teens showed up after school for our Teen Tech Week music program.  Everyone took turns connecting their mp3 players to our speakers and playing music.  (Of course, there were a few rules about appropriateness, but everyone cooperated.)  We heard everything from traditional Irish music to French rap to 80s hair metal!  While listening, people ate snacks, made a craft, and played some games using the "random" or "shuffle" feature on the mp3 players.  The craft was especially popular...we made mp3 player holders out of old jean pockets!  People decorated them with ribbon, trim, and Sharpie markers.  They turned out really well, and a few people made more than one.  Those will definitely turn up at the next Craft Closet Cleanout, so count on that if you missed this event!

People working on their pockets.  (Sorry it's blurry...I took it with my phone.) 

Finished products!

Geek Out @ Your Library!

It's Teen Tech Week!  This year's theme is "Geek Out @ Your Library," so our Teen Advisory Board (TAB) ran a contest.  They called it "Secret Geek" and the idea was for teens to express what makes them a geek through art, photography, or an essay.  We got twelve entries:  five drawings, three photos, and four essays.  A panel of five librarians judged the entries anonymously based on how well they expressed the creators' geekiness.  (I did not judge, since I knew who made each entry.)  The librarians chose Genni's entry as the winner, which was photography of a clay sculpture she made of Link from The Legend of Zelda.  Genni wins a $30 gift card to Amazon.com to further her geekiness!  They also chose three honorable mentions:  Sarah, for her essay on music; Nikki, for her creative photos of Domo; and Katie, for her essay on movies.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter!  All of the entries are hanging on or around the bulletin board in the teen section, so check them out until the end of the month.

TTW Site of the Day: Wayback Machine

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, have fun with the Wayback Machine.  This is an internet archive that documents how websites have changed over the years.  Just put in your favorite link, then click on a year and a date to see what it looked like back then.  It's really funny to do with sites that have been around for a long time.  Try it for Google or Yahoo, or enter the website for a product like Pepsi or Coke.

TTW Site of the Day: Cubeecraft

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, I'm featuring Cubeecraft!  I guess papercrafts are sort of a low-tech choice for Teen Tech Week, but whatever, it's cool.  Download and fold lots of characters from popular TV shows and video games, including Conan O'Brien (with or without beard), Frylock, the Duck Hunt Dog, and a Stormtrooper.  There's something for everyone!

TTW Site of the Day: Science of Music

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, mess around with music and rhythm at the funky online exhibit Science of Music. My favorite activity is the Step Re-mix, where you can create your own composition by clicking and dragging step dance video clips!

TTW Site of the Day: Xtranormal

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, take a look at Xtranormal. You can make your own online movies without knowing a thing about animation. Unleash your sense of humor, or just rant and rave!

TTW Site of the Day: The Mint

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, learn how to manage your money at The Mint.  Whether you're just thinking about buying some new clothes or video games, looking for a summer job, or trying to figure out how to pay for college, money matters!  You may not have a lot of money, but it is still good to think about how you use it.

TTW Site of the Day: Youthink!

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, take a look at Youthink! You are the present. You are inheriting the future. Use Youthink! to figure out what you can do to make your community and this world a better place.  Tell them what it's like to be a young person of your heritage, comment on any of the issues they cover, or post your comments on the Youthink! blog.

TTW Site of the Day: FreshBrain

March 6 to 12 is Teen Tech Week!

Today, check out FreshBrain.  Learn how to build the next big phone app or just make a funny music mashup.  FreshBrain is an amazing website for teens that gives you ideas for tech activities and projects, then teaches you how to use the tools to make them happen! 

iPod Party

Last Wednesday, 17 teens came by after school for our first-ever iPod event!  Actually, any mp3 player or phone was welcome, so no one was excluded.  About half the people who came didn't even bring any music; they just wanted to listen!  Everyone had the opportunity to play three songs of their choice over the speakers during the program, and we heard a variety of genres and decades of music. 

While listening, people did some playlist games and made some crafts.  The most popular playlist game involved putting the iPod on random, asking a question, pressing "next," and taking that song title as the answer.  It was way more fun than asking a magic eight ball...some of the answers were really hilarious!  We also made personalized iPod cozies out of felt and decorated them with ribbon and puffy paint.  (It was modified from this cute idea for a Toaster Pastry iPod Cozy.)  I also had out the duct tape, so a lot of random stuff got made.

This event was suggested by TAB member Laurel...I never would have thought of it myself!  Thanks to my husband for figuring out how to make his Zune speakers work with any mp3 player and to Teferi for testing it out before the program.  We'll definitely do it again sometime.  It was fun to hear everyone's music!

Playlist games

Some of the craft projects 

This was the most beautiful iPod cozy! 

Nintendo Night

On Friday, 26 teens showed up for our Teen Tech Week edition of Nintendo Night. In addition to two tournaments, people enjoyed free play of Rock Band games on the Wii and Super Mario 3 on the vintage NES. We had 24 in our Super Smash Brothers Brawl tournament and 7 in the DS Pokemon tournament. The Brawl tournament brackets worked down to a top six, so we did two rounds of three players taking the top one from each round. The final ended up being Alex vs. Jared, and Jared emerged victorious again. In the Pokemon tournament, the final was Ross vs. Le, with Le as the winner. Alex and Le both earned $10 gift cards to Game Stop, while Jared got a $25 one. All of the quarter-final finishers in both tournaments earned candy.

This is the first time in a long time where we actually managed to finish both tournaments during the program and actually have time left over for free play on Brawl! Also, the only technical difficulties we had were that I forgot the speakers for the second Wii. My husband came to the rescue, though, and ran home and back here with our kids in tow. He arrived just in time! Thanks, Jason!!! Everyone who enjoyed Rock Band appreciates you.

YouTube Party

We held our second annual Teen Tech Week YouTube party yesterday. Fourteen teens attended, and we watched everything from homemade videos to professional productions. I only had to stop two videos for being inappropriate, so thanks to everyone who tried to keep it clean! We had three categories: Humor, Music/TV/Movies, and Other. Laurel won in the Humor category for showing Irving the Socially Awkward Bee and Dominic won in the Music/TV/Movies category with an animated verision of Adam Sandler's Happy Birthday song. Atrielle won both the Other category and the overall prize for showing episode 6 of his homemade sketch comedy show Everyday Grindin. This video had some really funny moments, especially at the end when they did a sketch talking like Lil Jon. For their efforts, Laurel and Dominic won candy, and Atrielle got candy and a $5 giftcard to Blockbuster. We will probably do this again in the fall because it's always a good time!

TTW Contest Winner!

Today at Gaming Club, I had one teen draw out the name of the Teen Tech Week Favorite Websites Contest winner...and it's Nitha V.! Nitha recommends http://www.dictionary.com, asking "Isn't it great to have an online dictionary? Plus, it wows the teacher when you put in 'smart people' vocabulary." Nitha wins a $10 gift card to Best Buy to get something techie, even if it's just a CD. Congrats!

YouTube Viewing Party

Today, 19 teens came out to our YouTube Viewing Party, and that's even after I forgot to make reminder calls! We broke out the pillows and the snacks, then watched one video submitted by each person in the room. The rules were simple: it had to be "appropriate" and it had to fit into one of our categories. The categories were: humorous, sad, scary, political, musical, and animated. We saw a lot of humor, covering everything from Klay World: Pancake Mines to Monty Python's Dead Parrot Sketch to Jeff Dunham's crazy puppet comedy. After everything, six people went home with boxes of movie candy for winning in their categories.

To set up the event, I dragged my desktop computer, mouse, and keyboard upstairs and hooked it up to the projector and the speakers. Then, I connected it to the wireless internet. It was crazy looking, but it totally worked! Even though it was a lot of work to set this up, I totally want to do it again. Everyone was mad when they had to leave and they were all begging me to show more videos. So, look for another, longer YouTube Viewing Party again in the future!

Nintendo Night Suggestions

Some people at our Teen Tech Week Nintendo Night filled out a survey, offering their opinions on the event and ideas for future gaming events.

What they liked...

• Friendly gaming environment
• Evening program
• Having fun
• Doing well in a tournament
• Meeting new people

What they didn't like...

• Loudness
• Crowdedness
• Not doing well in a tournament
• Rudeness

Suggestions for another gaming event...

• Classics from the Wii virtual console
• Guitar Hero
• F-Zero GX
• Mario Galaxy
• Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz
• Pokemon Battle Revolution

It's Teen Tech Week!

Teen Tech Week (TTW) is a celebration of teens and technology (duh!) that runs from today until March 14. We kicked off TTW at little early with our Nintendo Night last Friday, but there are still several ways to celebrate this week.

1. Come to our YouTube Viewing Party on Wednesday, March 11, from 3:30 to 5:00. Show us your favorite *appropriate* video and win prizes!

2. Enter our Favorite Websites contest. You can enter every day this week by filling out a slip and putting it in the green box by the audiobooks. Daily winners will get candy, and everyone has a chance to win a gift card at the end of the week! Some sites will also get featured on the blog.

3. Visit the TTW book display in the teen area, where you can also get bookmarks and a list of suggested audiobooks.

Huge thanks goes to YALSA and the Verizon Foundation for their support of our TTW activities!!

Our TTW book display is on top of the graphic novel area. Check it out!

Nintendo Night

Last Friday evening we hosted Nintendo Night, our Teen Tech Week kick-off event! An amazing 32 people showed up to enter our Super Smash Bros. Brawl tournament on the Wii, and enjoy free play on another Wii and my original NES. We also organized a Pokemon tournament for DS users during the event! This is the first time we have ever set up two Wiis in one room, so I really appreciated everyone's patience and helpfulness when we had some crossover interference.

After many rounds, Mike emerged as the winner of the Brawl tournament and won a $25 gift card to GameStop. Maher came in second and won a $10 card. Everyone in the final four (Mike, Connor, Maher, and David) got candy. In the Pokemon tournament, David was victorious and won a $10 GameStop card. The final two in this tournament, Katie and David, also got candy.

Thanks to a Teen Tech Week Mini-Grant sponsored by YALSA and the Verizon Foundation, we were able to purchase new games and accessories for our Wii system to make Nintendo Night amazing!

Guitar Hero was a big hit with everyone.

Anyone can rock!

Some guys playing in the Brawl tournament, playing DS, or just watching.

A group tries out Mario Party 8.

Tournament and DS play happening in the same space!

Katie brought her crocheted Pokemon to display at Nintendo Night. Aren't they cool?

TTW Sunday Contest Winner

Connor S. is today's winner of the Favorite Website Contest candy drawing. Connor recommends Halopedia because it has "Halo stuff aplenty." This is a comprehensive encyclopedic site with over 5000 articles on various aspects of Halo gameplay, so check it out.