Day One

Pictured above: A snapshot from the very beginning of Day One Tech at the end of 2019, shortly before the pandemic hit. This photo features our first official SWAG, our first LEGO EV3 robot, and the study room at Portland Community College’s SE Campus where our two-person team planned our very first classes. At the time, we had no office or makerspace—just a shared vision and a free study space. Our first classes were funded out of pocket, and this moment came shortly after we received our first-ever grant of $2,000 from ORTOP (Oregon Robotics Tournament and Outreach Program). On the whiteboard behind us are pieces of a rough sketch mapping out how we fused a Robotics Maze with Music Theory—one of the founder's earliest creative pedagogies.

Pictured above: An early example of what would eventually become the Triple Dot Method—also known as 3D. At the time, it was a simplified version of the engineering design process we called “See, Think, Plan, and Try.” This concept was developed in the very first days of Day One Tech to help kids reflect on their actions and build critical thinking skills. In the photo, you can also see four logos we experimented with—early versions of what would eventually be distilled into the three dots we use today. These logos represent one of our very first branding efforts and a visual marker of how far we’ve come.