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MakerSpace goes live at С��è��ý’s Sylvania Campus

Photos and story by Deborah Crawford

As you walk toward the MakerSpace location at the Sylvania Campus, you can’t miss the big blue robot standing just outside the door.

Inside, even more excitement ensues. There are a handful of students and a plethora of projects being completed, with machines running and humming throughout. One student is printing a goal post for the new board game he invented while another uses the 3D printer to build a fully scaled artificial heart, and in another area a photography student is bringing a photograph to life. In this space, it seems that the possibilities are endless with more than a dozen 3D printers laser cutters, computer-controlled milling machines, vinyl stencilers, 3D copy machines, soldering stations, sheet metal tooling and one lonely sewing machine.

MakerSpace will be having an open house for the campus community from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 12, in the CC Building Upper and Lower Mall, Sylvania Campus. The event will include tours of the space, prizes and a chance to make something. People can get more information and meet with tour guides at the campus.

“Imagine an idea held in your hand within hours of conception: a place to put abstract theories to the test; a high tech lounge complete with sofa and chairs, music and art; a place to learn as you did in childhood where fun, adventure, and camaraderie were standard fare,” said MakerSpace coordinator and Engineering Instructor Gregg Meyer. “This is the С��è��ý MakerSpace.”

The Maker movement is a new phenomenon spreading across the nation with the purpose of increasing access to technology and education through open shared spaces with unique tools and equipment; and it’s really starting to gain momentum, Meyer added. The С��è��ý MakerSpace offers an opportunity for staff and students to collaborate and bring ideas to life, a place where scientists, technologists, engineers, artists and mathematicians can find common ground to collaborate on ideas that matter. Meyer said the space is possible because of the, “generous support from our campus administration, Intel Corporation, С��è��ý Faculty and the +STEAM student club.”

For more information, email makerspace@pcc.edu.

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