Empty Nesters

Tired of just learning theory? It's time to build like a professional. Welcome to our first major technical workshop under the new **AWS Student Builder Group** identity! This is NOT a theoretical course or a vague introduction to the cloud. This is a complete immersion into a real-world enterprise workflow. In this hands-on workshop, we will bridge the gap between local development and cloud production. You will learn how to design a clean backend API, understand modern serverless architecture, and deploy it live on AWS. **🔥 What you will learn:** * **Part 1: Backend Engineering:** Move from "just coding" to true software design. Learn REST API architecture, clean code practices, error handling, and tools like Git and Postman. * **Part 2: AWS Cloud Fundamentals:** Understand why companies are moving to Serverless. We will break down key services: AWS Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB/RDS, and IAM security. * **Part 3: The "Build" Phase:** Pure hands-on practice. Create your Lambda function, connect it to API Gateway, and deploy a serverless API that is accessible via a public URL. * **Part 4: Production & Integration:** Adopt the professional mindset. Learn how to test your API in production, manage logs with CloudWatch, and understand basic security tokens. **🎯 Expected Outcome:** You won't just leave with notes. Every participant will leave with a functional API deployed online, along with the professional tricks and standards used by modern cloud engineers. **⚠️ Prerequisites:** 1. Bring your laptop. 2. **CRITICAL:** You must create a free AWS account *before* attending the event to save time. 3. Basic knowledge of programming (any language) will be helpful. We will provide a starter project so no one gets left behind! Let's build. Innovate. Solve. Impact. *We are solution providers!*

Join us for a relaxing brunch at Shawnee Station Tap Room Kitchen! Come enjoy great food, good conversation, and a chance to connect with new friends in a fun and welcoming atmosphere. Whether you’re new to the group or a familiar face, we’d love to have you there! Grab your favorite brunch drink, meet amazing people, and spend a laid-back morning together. Please RSVP so we can plan seating accordingly. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Most people use AI like a search box: they type one sentence, hope for the best, and get frustrated when the answer is generic, wrong, or useless. But getting better results from tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and other AI systems is not about memorizing magic prompts. It is about learning how to give the AI better context. In this beginner-friendly session, we’ll break down how to make AI dramatically more useful by improving the way you communicate with it. You’ll learn how to give clearer instructions, provide examples, set constraints, ask for better output formats, and use follow-up questions to turn a mediocre answer into a genuinely useful one. We’ll cover practical techniques you can use immediately for work, learning, writing, coding, planning, research, and everyday problem solving. We’ll also touch on why these same ideas show up in more advanced AI systems, including RAG, agents, evaluations, and AI workflows. No technical background required. Bring your curiosity, your questions, and maybe one real task you wish AI was better at helping you with. **What you’ll learn:** * Why “better prompting” is really about better context * How to structure requests so AI gives more useful answers * How to use examples, constraints, and output formats * How to iterate when the first answer is not good enough * How these skills connect to more advanced AI workflows This meetup is for anyone who wants to move beyond basic ChatGPT usage and start getting more practical value out of AI. LOGISTICS AND PARKING: The talk starts at 7:00 PM. The first half hour is reserved for everyone to get set up and mingle. Free pizza and drinks! The cheapest parking option is to find street parking, which will only cost you a few bucks. Otherwise, park in the nearby veteran's museum lot for $8. It's highly recommended you avoid the nearby $15 garage parking.

Westerville Pride Festival Sat\. June 6\, 2026 \| 5 PM \- 8 PM If you're thinking of attending, or being a sponsor, vendor, or volunteer, visit our website at https://www.westervillequeercollective.org/pride for more information! Location and other info will be announced soon :)