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Marlon
Orozco
In November 2003, the award-winning Computer Clubhouse
celebrates its 10th anniversary. Developed by the Museum of Science with
the MIT Media Lab, the Computer Clubhouse is an innovative learning environment
where youth from underserved communities, supported by adult mentors and
other youth, use technology creatively on projects that interest them.
Along the way, they gain skills to help them succeed in life. Many Clubhouse
“alumni” go on to art school, college or other training based
on their Clubhouse experiences. Others work as graphic artists or Web
designers. Many “give back” by mentoring newcomers.
Today, with the flagship Clubhouse at the Museum as a model, the Intel Computer Clubhouse Network has grown to 85 Clubhouses around the world—a global community of thousands of young inventors, artists, musicians, and designers.
Perhaps no one symbolizes the Computer Clubhouse better than Guatemalan-born Marlon Orozco, 28. He heard about the Clubhouse at 17. Living in Chelsea, MA, at the time, he started to come to the Clubhouse when the program first began in 1993 at The Computer Museum, Boston. A 1994 graduate of Northeast Metro Technical Vocational High School, Wakefield, MA, Orozco recalls, “At the Computer Clubhouse, I got a chance to use a computer to create my own stuff. I felt like I was really doing something. At first, I kept waiting for adults to tell me what to do. But it was my peers teaching me. All the ideas had to come from me and then the adults helped me.”
Since then, Orozco, who attended the University of Massachusetts, Boston, for two years, has grown along with the Clubhouse. He mastered sophisticated 3-D modeling and graphic design software as a Clubhouse member, becoming a mentor to other youths and then part-time staff member. Now, he is the program manager of the flagship Computer Clubhouse, based at the Museum of Science, Boston. There, he is a source of inspiration to all the young people whose lives he touches. Marlon has also married and is the father of a five-year-old girl and a one-year-old son.
“I get inspired by the young people and the amazing ways they express themselves and become leaders in their communities,” says Orozco. This year, he organized the first public exhibit by Clubhouse youth to open at the Museum of Science in April 2003. The Digital Studio showcases the creations of over 30 young artists from Boston’s inner city. They used powerful multimedia technology to create their own images and record original music, experimenting with sound effects, instrumentation and voice. Other young people scripted, edited and produced short videos and stop-motion animations that show the spirit of the Clubhouse community. Their art, music, video, animations, and Web design creations all come to life at computer kiosks and on the walls. The exhibit, located between the Mugar Omni Theater and the Hayden Planetarium, is FREE to the public.