STEM info

[KellerRacing]

Don't know if this is the correct place but here goes. For years I've been watching tracks close and sanctions fold. Here is my solution:

About a year ago, I was working on the computer doing some engine simulation
work and it suddenly dawned on me, the school district where I live had a
big push on for an addition to the High School to be used for S.T.E.M. (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Math). There is SO much STEM involved in racing, and
racing is SO exciting, What better way to entice youngsters to get involved with
STEM then get them involved in RACING!

I then started thinking about how this could be accomplished and I started thinking
about a PowerPoint presentation. At the time, I was working at a local library, part
time, helping with their computer network. I talked to some of the "Powers That Be"
and they offered to let me use their Community Room for presentations. They also
volunteered to use their contacts at local schools to pull in students to attend.

All was going well. The PPT presentation came along slowly as I had no experience
with PPT and the learning curve was, for me, steep. But I kept on plugging away. Then
I got some very bad health news and the PPT had to be put on hold for many months.
Recently I started feeling better and my prognosis actually improved. So I dug out
the presentation and started to work on it again.

I happened to mention it to my youngest son and he said, "Dad, don't you think
that's kinda dry for kids today?" So naturally I asked him what he would suggest.
He said, "Why don't you make a movie." EUREKA!!!! A BIG light bulb went on over
my head! What a suggestion! I immediately started pulling together all the tools I
would need to make a movie. I already had some of the software, albeit a bit old
(actually VERY old but still functional), I have 3 video cameras; one digital
that saves to SD card and 2 analog that save to 8 mm tape, 3 computers running Win XP.
I went in search of script writing software and found Trelby http://www.trelby.org/,
a really nice open source, script writing application, and I was off and running!

Well, I'm still moving on but I find I need some additional hardware and software.
I'm cramped on disk space so a portable drive (1 or 2 TB) is in order, I need
hardware and software converters for the video cameras that save to tape, need
more memory for the computers I will be editing movies on, need many batteries,
probably about 10-12 8 gig SD cards (the biggest my camera will take is 8 gig),
would like to upgrade my copy of Microsoft Office (I'm currently running Win 95
Office on 2 computers and Office 2000 on one computer). Maybe just go to Office 2010,
an older version which can be had relatively inexpensively.

I'm thinking I will try a crowd-funding project to purchase the noted hardware and
software. Wish me luck! And in view of the fact that I can't work right now, I'm
going to include enough in the request to pay for several trips to my local
dragstrip PITTSBURGH RACEWAY PARK http://www.pittsburghracewaypark.com/ to get some of the necessary footage.

I will probably need about $2000.00 to pull this off. Anyone contributing $100.00
or more will be eligible for a free tshirt, designs can be viewed at our on-line
store at: Keller Racing http://www.cafeshops.com/KellerRacing store. A copy of the script (so far) will be emailed to
any contributors. As I will also be developing the PowerPoint Presentation in
parallel with the movie, I will include a copy of the PP outline along with the
copy of the movie script to all contributors.

I'm planning on making the PP Presentation and Movie available for free download
from my website (this one) for use by others in promoting STEM and Racing.

Kickstarter URL:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/80 ... -and-movie

I would appreciate some feedback.

Bill