Our Mission
To inspire the FOSS community leaders of tomorrow with hands-on experiences, educational opportunities, and interactions with industry leaders, igniting a lifelong interest in technology and open source innovation.
WHEN is SCALE Youth: The Next Generation Happening?
Saturday, March 7th, 2026
11am - 5pm
Pasadena Convention Center
300 E Green St, Pasadena Ca 91101
How to Attend/Register?
TNG welcomes school groups, clubs, and individuals to attend. Pre-registration is required. Click on the appropriate links below:
- School/Group Registration Click Here
- Registration is free for school groups and their chaperone.
- Individual Student Registration Click Here
- Individual attendees under the age of 18 may attend SCALE at no charge when accompanied by a registered parent or guardian, who must remain with the child for the duration of their stay.
- Parents/Chaperone Registration for Expo Pass or Scale Pass Click Here
WHAT is SCALE Youth: The Next Generation?
SCALE Youth: The Next Generation, or TNG, is a collocated youth event at SCALE. It’s focused on giving middle and high school students real exposure to open source and technology not just as attendees, but as creators, builders, and speakers. It’s all about sparking curiosity, confidence, and long-term engagement in tech.
TNG really has two main experiences:
- a Hands-On Workshop Room where students learn by doing, and
- a Student Speaker Track where students give full conference-style talks.
That combination is what makes the TNG Youth Track so special. Students can explore tech hands-on and see what’s possible when they take a project all the way to a conference stage.
SCALE Youth: TNG Talks
One of the coolest features of the TNG Youth Track is the student speakers. Middle and high school students give full conference-style talks on real open source projects they’re genuinely passionate about. This year’s talks cover a diverse range of innovative and inspiring topics, showcasing the creativity and skills of young tech enthusiasts. These student-led sessions not only highlight their talents but also inspire peers and adults with fresh perspectives and cutting-edge ideas.
Talk Schedule:
11:15am Emotional AI Robot Simplified: Creating a Voice-Activated Assistant with Minimal Cost and Experience (Jack Pierse)
12:15pm Lunch
1:00pm Developing Open Source Hardware Solutions for FRC (Conor Kelly Gerakos)
2:00pm How I Created an Operating System from Scratch (Koshan Dawlaty)
3:00pm AI in Costco's Shipping Process (Yash Tandon)
SCALE Youth: TNG Workshop Space
The other huge part of TNG is the Workshop Room, which is all about hands-on exploration. Students can walk up, try things, code things, ask questions, and experiment; it’s very much a learn by doing space. No prior experience needed, just curiosity! This year’s workshop stations include:
- Open Source Rover project
- Micro:bit for coding and physical computing
- Robotics
- An Open Source “Petting Zoo” with hands-on tech demos like Blender and Open Broadcast Studio
- BANDIT War Games (intro to cybersecurity concepts)
- Facial Recognition demos
- AI Generative Art
- Teachable Machine experiments (NEW this year!)
- A Dell server for learning about infrastructure (NEW this year!)
- A NASA Station: Learn to work with NASA data (NEW this year!)
- 3D printing and upcycling
- Snap Circuits and Turing Tumble
It’s intentionally designed to be welcoming and exploratory. Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m, welcoming students drop in at their convenience.
More?
If you have any questions or are interested in planning next year's event, please email us at youth@socallinuxexpo.org.
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