Meet Our New Imagination Creativity Consultant: Tonya Fletcher!
Last year we introduced 5 Imagination Creativity Consultants (ICCs), then known as Ambassadors. Each graciously agreed to serve in an advisory position to the Imagination Team, and to assist in mentoring others and supporting the efforts and activities of Imagination.org and fellow Chapter Leaders. This year, much as we have added new Chapters, we are also inviting some new ICCs to work with the existing team. Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to the second of our new ICCs, Tonya Fletcher.
Mount Airy, North Carolina — USA
“Hello from Mount Airy! I’m a long-time school librarian/media coordinator. However, my true claim to fame might be my high score in Tetris Blitz or it may be that I tried to get homework banned in the fifth grade.
I first saw pictures of Caine’s cardboard arcade around five or six years ago and was greatly impressed with his ingenuity. In the summer of 2015, I happened to see a tweet about applying to become an Imagination Chapter leader. I think I heard angels sing as I read more about the foundation. This would be the piece of the puzzle that brought everything else together for me. It included STEM, coding, creating, and connecting!
I cried when I received the acceptance letter because I was so excited to be part of this movement. My son Kendall was quite concerned at the tears so I showed him a few of the videos from the Imagination Foundation. He was thrilled as well and quickly set out to build his own cardboard arcade including Whack-a-Mole, skee ball, a crane machine, foosball with LEGO minifigures, and a hamster maze. He is my favorite maker in the world and he’s just eleven years old. I love seeing his stop-motion videos, custom LEGO creations, miniature worlds, comics, and pixel art.
Our Imagination Chapter involves my students from Franklin Elementary School. Gen Imagination is our movement to facilitate learning through creative play. We are a group of makers, tinkerers, engineers, designers, thinkers, artists, scientists, inventors, coders, readers, and Minecraft players.We love to create! We have a club of fifth graders that meets during school on Fridays, but we also do several activities with more than 500 students.
One of my favorite moments was when I had a group of kids coding Finch robots and they decided to find some cardboard to create ramps and other obstacles for their robots. They took the activity further than I had even considered. I have witnessed so many similar “Aha!” moments during the last couple of years. I believe that creating, problem-solving, and innovation will help them all become the leaders of tomorrow.
Being part of the Imagination family has helped me develop great friendships with some of the best educators in the world. It has helped me create a global classroom where my students develop empathy and celebrate diversity. Leading our Imagination Chapter has been the highlight of my career!”
Find Tonya on Twitter at @tonya_nc. She occasionally blogs at genimagination.blogspot.com.
