Red Hat Speaks

Claire Sauls, Director of Red Hat High

Red Hat High is a one-week technology camp focused on increasing interest in technology in student groups that are typically under-represented in tech fields. Red Hat High was hosted by Red Hat and North Carolina State University, with counselors and teachers from the local college and from Red Hat's staff and partners.

Red Hat High was planned and executed by a talented summer intern, Claire Sauls. Sauls is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who brought experience with children and social service work to the table.

Where did the idea for Red Hat High come from?

Red Hat's Chairman and CEO, Matthew Szulik, initially came up with the idea of a Red Hat technology camp, and I was hired to make that idea a reality. In the initial stages of planning, we took a step back to define the issues we would like to address with a Red Hat camp. We want to get students exposed to technology at an earlier age. We want greater diversity in our field. We want students to see the link between studying technology in college and scoring a job somewhere like Red Hat. And we want to provide an opportunity that is affordable, in this year's case, free of cost to parents so that students who show an interest in technology but may not have the resources to act on it outside of the classroom may also attend.

To accomplish our goal of teaching the students about the opportunities of college, we partnered with North Carolina State University for this pilot year. Students stayed in a dorm on campus and ate in the campus dining hall, and the University helped arrange for NC State students to come talk to Red Hat High students about college life.

What was the student selection process?

Once we had a general idea of what kind of students we wanted at Red Hat High, we contacted middle school teachers in the area and asked them to nominate students, and boy did they do a great job. Along with the teacher nomination, we also asked students to fill out an application. The applications helped us get a better idea of the students' personalities, with questions asking their favorite movies and books along with a space to draw themselves and another to write what they think Shadowman would say. The selection process was a lot of fun, because I began creating images in my head of each student. It's also been fun looking back at the applications now that I know the students to see how accurate my image of them was.

How many students attended? What did they focus on during the week?

We had 52 students enrolled in the pilot year of Red Hat High: 30 boys and 22 girls. Before the start of camp students chose a course to focus on during the camp week. They chose between audio, video, web design, and 3D animation, and each morning students split up into their course groups to learn from experts in those fields and work on week-long projects.

For example, the audio students came up with some really creative projects. One group of girls created a radio talk show that was pretty hilarious. The video students split into smaller groups and made a music video, a documentary, and two commercials. The web students made some great web pages with their own blogs, and the 3D students created 3D models on the computer.

One thing I think is important to point out is that all four courses were taught using open source software. The audio students used Audacity and Hydrogen to create their projects, the video students used Kino and Cinelerra, web design was taught with Gimp, and 3D animation was taught on Blender.

Bet you have some funny stories. Tell us one.

Oh, man. We had some characters in the group that had me laughing all week long. During one of the meals in the dining hall, some NC State basketball players were eating at the same time and the campers began swarming them for autographs. Before I could get up to perform crowd control, one of our students had taken off one of his pairs of shorts for a player to sign. They're probably on eBay now.

What were the final projects like? Were there any that stood out?

The final projects were great. As camp director, I wasn't available to see many of the students' projects until they presented them to their parents on the last day of camp, and I was blown away by how well some of the students did. The music video that a few of the video students created was fun to see because it had students dancing in it. And the 3D models and animations were much more detailed than I had expected. When we decided to include a course in 3D animation using Blender software, there were a lot of skeptics that said students wouldn't be able to produce anything worthwhile in 15 hours of class time. But when those students went up on stage they proved anyone wrong who may have doubted what they could accomplish. Their projects were fantastic.

What sort of people volunteered as instructors and counselors? Do you think they'll be back next year? How do people volunteer for next year?

The instructors for the audio, video, and web courses were actually all Red Hat associates who volunteered their time to plan and teach these courses. The Blender 3D course was taught by three Blender artists from across the country who agreed to come spend their week at Red Hat High. Jason van Gumster (nicknamed 'Groo'), co-owner and lead animator of Hand Turkey Studios, came from Richmond, VA to teach. And then we flew in two other artists, Jeff McGregor and Jonathan Williamson. Jonathan's only a teenager and does great work, specializing in character animation.

I sure hope all of the Red Hat associates will help again next year, and the Blender guys too. We couldn't have had such a successful year without all of our instructors. Since we'll be spreading to other locations in the future, we'll have to arrange for volunteers at other productions of Red Hat High. For now, people interested in volunteering and or teaching can email redhathigh@redhat.com.

How was the camp received by parents? Were they happy with their kids' work? What kind of feedback have you received?

The parents have been so great through the whole process. They had confidence in Red Hat that the pilot year would be a success, and I think they were thrilled on the last day of camp when students showcased their presentations. I got an email from one parent saying her son claimed it was the best camp he's been to.

A few parents have written to tell me that their sons and daughters have continued working on their projects every day since camp ended. I just think it's so great that we were able to have such an impact on these kids, and that since it's open source, free software that they learned on, they can keep working on their projects on a computer at home.

Do you think this program should continue? What would you do differently next time? What would you do the same?

It had better continue! In all seriousness, I definitely think Red Hat High should continue. And grow. This camp was the pilot year, and we at Red Hat plan for it spread to other locations to inspire students around the globe to get an early interest in technology. It's true that I was hired to plan Red Hat High. But it's also in my job description to track how it went so we can learn from this year in the coming years. The last step of the design thinking process is learn. And that's what we're trying to do now.

Since we partnered with NC State, we stayed in a dorm on campus there, and I think that worked out really well. Students were able to see a college campus in their area, and I'm still on the high of how well camp went that it's hard to think about what we'd do differently. There are obvious things like allowing much more time to get from one place to another. Getting 50 students around isn't always easy. We've also discussed the idea of integrating the courses more, so the audio students could create sound for the video projects, and the web students could document these projects on their blogs, etc. And one big change that many of the students requested is moving the age group up a year, so they can come back next summer! Now that's a mark of success if you ask me.

So, Red Hat High is over. What are you going to do now?

You sound like my mom! Just kidding. My internship with Red Hat will be coming to a close in the coming weeks, and I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I've taken the LSAT and would like to go to law school at some point, but I don't know yet when or where that will be. It's funny though, I feel like Red Hat High is my little child and I'm sending it off on it's own. So I've been trying to prepare it as best I can so someone else can take care of it. Regardless of where I end up this coming year, I'll definitely be checking back to see how old Red Hat High is doing and where it will turn up in in the future.