Boston City Councillor Tito Jackson and Kickstarter Project
Boston, MA - December 2, 2012 - Vicky Wu Davis, serial entrepreneur and videogame industry veteran, teamed up with former University Professor Waipeng Lee and Lillian Dai, PhD MIT, to create Peach Ice Cream Adventures (PICA). The three moms wanted a fun way to teach their kids a new language so they combined determination with language and technical expertise to create an immersive, engaging second-‐language learning tool for children under six called PICA.
But the need for this tool extended beyond their immediate needs. Boston City Councillor Tito Jackson understood that and has championed their efforts. He is spearheading incorporation of the early language immersion, STEM-based adventure game to preschools, K1, and K2 classrooms in District 7.
With an innovation and global economy rising, both STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) education and second-language learning have been deemed extremely valuable in fostering job-readiness. One-to-four-year-old children are particularly receptive to learning math and logic; the golden years for acquiring language are to five. These disciplines and their early learning are complementary and Peach Ice Cream Adventures uses the perfect link between early childhood STEM and second-language learning by combining multiple goals that connect the seemingly disparate learning objectives. It would be great to expose our youngest learners in the community to Chinese while also helping the 46% of students in Councillor Jackson’s District whose primary spoken language is Spanish. Ultimately, the PICA Project would allow us to complement all second-language pre-school, k-1 and k-2 learners’ education.
But Councillor Jackson is racing against the clock - PICA’s Kickstarter campaign to raise at least $60,000 ends December 17. If successful, PICA will be developed in Mandarin Chinese, French, and Spanish for the iPad. If Tito’s stretch goal of $70,000 is met, then the PICA project will also be developed for Android.
With $70,000, Councillor Jackson will run a pilot program in preschools-K in Boston District 7 starting summer 2013 because Isabella Products will donate their Android-based tablets to preschools and kindergartens in Roxbury and Dorchester preloaded with Peach Ice Cream Adventures in Chinese and Spanish. There is a strong connection between socioeconomic circumstances and a child’s academic success. Knowledge delays in the early years - unless something is done about it - follows children into their later years, leading to a growing academic achievement gap.
“That $70,000 Kickstarter fundraising goal,” says Tito, “will provide access to fun tools for mastering languages integral to my community - Spanish and Chinese. PICA is an amazing immersive language experience and teaches science. It’s a great STEM resource for my Spanish speakers.” “Usually kids from underserved communities have limited or even no access to the latest tools, but Vicky, her Kickstarter project, Matthew Growney and Isabella Products, and I are determined to make positive change and provide the best access, products, and opportunity to the kids in District 7.”
Matthew I. Growney, founder and CEO of Isabella Products, agrees. “Isabella is pleased to partner with PICA on this campaign to provide an incredible learning tool to Dorchester and Roxbury schools. Fable, our new tablet, with the PICA app will enhance the learning experience of young children and teachers alike.” “Moreover, PICA engages and stimulates students to learn important language comprehension through gamification” says Nancy Hamilton, Content Manager for Isabella and former 8th grade teacher. “We believe PICA can provide new applications using its gamification platform for future education segments and, as a former teacher, I love the interaction between using PICA as a language tool as well as a STEM tool!”
Councillor Tito Jackson has offered to have dinner in Boston with anyone who pledges $4,500 or more to the Peach Ice Cream Adventures Kickstarter campaign. In addition, every $4,500 pledger will be invited to the special Ribbon Cutting Ceremony in celebration of meeting the $70,000 goal. Pledge today at:
About City Councillor Tito Jackson
Tito H. Jackson is the Boston City Councillor for District 7. He was elected with 82% of the vote during a Special Election. In November of 2011, the 85% of the voters in District 7 selected Councillor Jackson for a full two-‐year term. Mr. Jackson was raised in the Grove Hall section of Roxbury and is a proud life-‐long resident of District 7, which includes all of Roxbury and parts of the South End, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain and the Fenway. In 2007, Councillor Jackson became the Industry Director for Information Technology at Governor Deval Patrick’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development where he focused his energies on creating and sustaining jobs within Massachusetts and helping local businesses grow. Councillor Jackson is now the Chair of the Post Audit and Oversight Committee, and Vice Chair of the Education Committee. Councillor Jackson is a much sought after public speaker at career days, motivational seminars and community events. In this capacity, he addresses youth development issues, such as how to better motivate young people to pursue careers in STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Education.
About Isabella Products
Isabella Products, Inc. is a leading mobile device company developing a family of connected wireless products that enrich and entertain your everyday life. Through its VizitMe content management service, Isabella effectively and securely delivers and manages real-‐time content experiences among a portfolio of innovative products including Fable, it’s soon-to-be-released children’s tablet. Isabella Products is led by a world-‐class management team with deep experience in the mobile and consumer electronics industries. For more information, please visit: http://www.isabellaproducts.com.
About The PICA Project
Peach Ice Cream Adventures (PICA) is a second-language learning tool delivered through an interactive tablet-‐based adventure. Designed specifically for 3-6 year olds, PICA is a gamified digital slice of a successful Early Education program that engages students in Mandarin Chinese within the context of science exploration and STEM principles. PICA facilitates greater development and command of a fuller range of linguistic, abstract, and discrete problem-solving capabilities than other educational methods and curricula. PICA will be offered in Chinese, French, Spanish and will incorporate ESL for Chinese and Spanish speakers in later versions. Learn more and have fun with PICA. For more information go to www.froghop3.net/peachicecream.
Media Contacts:
Councillor Tito Jackson
Tito.Jackson@cityofboston.gov
617-939-8527
Vicky Wu Davis
Vicky@froghop.net
617-‐290-‐5499
@PICAcampaign
Nancy Hamilton
nancy.hamilton@isabellaproducts.com
978-‐287-‐0007
@isabellaprdcts