San Fernando Middle School’s Maker VISTA members Carey Habiger and Lyna Abal were heads-down and knee-deep working on a major grant application submission in December 2017. As the year was winding down, this VISTA team and their supervisor Toutoule Ntoya were ramping up their efforts to obtain a Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG) from the Los Angeles Unified School District. Carey and Lyna contributed significantly to writing the application, given their profound impact upon and understanding of the maker learning landscape they themselves have helped to cultivate. Though the CTEIG is generally only given to high schools, this driven duo ensured that SFMS could check off a number of boxes that initially seemed very daunting. After coordinating with nearby San Fernando High School and pooling other outside resources, the CTEIG grant application was not only submitted successfully, but at the end of the month, just ahead of the New Year, Carey and Lyna learned that SFMS was awarded $300,000 towards the development and implementation of an engineering and design program!
The VISTAs and team at San Fernando (and the Maker VISTA Program at Maker Ed!) are incredibly proud of this accomplishment, especially considering the initial challenges they faced as a middle school applicant and the number of requirements they had to fulfill.
As 2017 came to a close, Carey and Lyna found these tools or resources essential:
- Mr. Norton — our IT guy!
- Toutoule Ntoya, Maker VISTA supervisor and LAEP Teaching & Learning Coordinator
- Our 3D printers
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