Summer camp provides test-run for new high school on El Molino Campus
The Innovative Arts makerspace offered a summer camp for middle schoolers just before the Academy of Innovative Arts opened
Over the past year, I’ve been working to create a makerspace on the El Molino Campus as the centerpiece of a new school, the Academy of Innovative Arts. Last week, we held the first event at the makerspace, an intense, weeklong Maker Camp for 50+ middle school kids. This week, the Academy welcomed its first class of freshmen on Wednesday, kicking off the school year. As a proponent of this new public high school as well as hands-on maker education that incorporates technology and design, I am happy to see the birth of new kind of school, one that encourages students to find ways to use new tools to become agents of change.
Super Maker Camp
I wanted to offer a free summer camp for middle school kids in part to break in the new Innovative Arts makerspace and help spread the word about the new school. I thought we might have 25 students but twice as many registered. After we reached 52, I had to say that we didn’t have any room.
The camp offered four core workshops that all campers did in rotation: blacksmithing, glassblowing, woodworking and 3D fabrication. Each day offered two core workshop that were 2-1/2 hours in length. In addition, there were shorter hands-on activities on the first and last day, as well as elective workshops such as sewing, mosaic tile making, and water marbling. Many campers also chose to do a second session of glassblowing and blacksmithing.
While I organized the camp, I was fortunate to connect with people in our community as instructors and volunteers. Local artisans introduced new skills and gave the campers time to practice them.
Blacksmithing: Jordan Pennington and Than King
Glassblowing: Michael Dickinson of Dickinson Glass Studio
Woodworking: Cole Smith, teacher at Academy of Innovative Arts
3D Fabrication: Marty Marfin, makerspace manager
Sewing: Shannon Marshall of Sonoma County Sewing Company
Mosaic Art: Kim Collet
Water Marbling and painting: Nancy Dougherty
We also had three talented interns: Royce, Jasper and Carter.
In addition, we had some guests such as Kayte Sabicer who makes props for stop-animation movies; she is on the cover of the current issue of Make: magazine. Kayte talked about her background as an artist and how she began working for movie production studios. She also talked about how she herself might struggle to do creative work, and that when she did, it helped if she just started playing around, doing a project for fun to get the creative juices flowing again.
School board trustee, Jeanne Fernandes, volunteered to help kids with sewing projects.
Jack Bacon, who is President of Russian River Rotary and a retired engineer from NASA, spoke to the kids about how NASA used 3D printing to prototype an interlocking mechanism that allowed spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.
On the last day, Tim Keller of Inventopia in Davis, CA, brought several prototypes of a new product he’s developing, a 3D printing pen, called Struder. The kids got to try it out.
Here’s a video of “Super” Maker Camp that I made for the parents and campers to show all the cool things they were able to do and make and how much fun they had being together.
Two of the campers wrote a “thank you” card to the team. “Thank you guys so much for this absolutely amazing camp! We appreciate everyone who pitched in. Keep showing the world your incredible talents, and inspiring others to be what you all are… Makers!” The card was signed by two of the campers who said they were themselves “Proud Makers.”
Special thanks to the Sebastopol Rotary Educational Foundation for a grant that helped underwrite some of the hands-on instruction. Thanks also to The Legacy and Analy alumni for donating some sewing machines and materials. Maker Camp and the makerspace were funded by myself and Nancy through the Maker Education Initiative (makered.org).
The focused energy of the students, their hard work to develop new skills, and their openness to experimentation and exploration are qualities that should also be reflected by students in the new school.
Opening Day for Academy of Innovative Arts
Teachers Cole Smith and Liqa Moin along with Principal Greg Alexander welcomed 21 students in the Library for the first day of the first class at the Academy of Innovative Arts. The school, which has been in the works for several years, was championed by Superintendent Chris Meredith and approved by the Board of Trustees last December. Cole Smith talked about the high level goals of the schools: Exploration, Community and Empowerment. The new school will be “student-driven” and focus on “growth over grades.”
It’s amazing to see the doors open and curious students walk in. The makerspace is now ready for students, and they will have at least 90 minutes a day to work on hands-on projects. There are newly outfitted classrooms and a student center. Overall, the El Molino Campus is looking good with new paint, new asphalt and other improvements. As Smith said, the students will be writing a new chapter for this campus while re-connecting it to the community.
Thank you, Dale and Nancy!
Best wishes to the students and teachers at the new Academy of Innovative Arts! The school’s goals and focus sound excellent. Would love to hear more about this vibrant educational experience as it moves into its first year.