What’s Happening, April 2015

Welcome back to our ongoing series highlighting “What’s Happening” at our Maker VISTA sites. Each monthly post will quickly introduce what our subsites have been up to during the past month, and include a link for more information.

Maker VISTA is dedicated to eradicating poverty and supports Maker Ed’s mission to create more opportunities for all young people to develop confidence, creativity, and interest in science, technology, engineering, math, art, and learning as a whole through making. VISTA Members develop the capacity of subsites by building infrastructure, expanding partnerships, securing resources, organizing maker education training, and linking communities to the maker movement.

To learn more about the Maker VISTA Project, click here.

To learn more our Maker VISTA Members, click here.

Lighthouse Community Charter SchoolLighthouse Community Charter School hosted their Prototype Faire this April, which provides a chance for students from each grade level to show off their own making projects that they have been working on all academic year. Some of the projects will be exhibited at the signature Maker Faire held in San Mateo, CA in May. Check out this blog post for photos and videos from student makers of all ages and grade levels.

DHF-LogoDigital Harbor Foundation announced its first winners for their Perpetual Innovation Fund Prize. The initiative, launched in January 2014,  provides funding for a 3D printer and training to educators  to start a youth enterprise at their school using 3D printed objects. There is a catch…each educator-led youth enterprise that receives funding also must commit to paying it forward to another youth enterprise. This means that the profits from the 3D printed objects they sell will be donated to support the costs of purchasing another 3D printer and supporting the training necessary for staff at a different organization. Follow the link for a list of the winners and a video describing the program in detail.

assemble_logoFINALAssemble partnered with the Kincaid St. Community Gardens to improve and beautify its community garden. Youth from Assemble rotated through stations where they had a chance to create wooden signs, learn about produce grown in the community garden and build a birdhouse. The embossed wooden signs,  to be installed in the Community Garden for plant identification, were made using Assemble’s laser cutter. The youth were encouraged to take the birdfeeders home and to be shared with their winged neighbors. You can read more and see photos of the wonderful collaboration here!

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