Makerspace

All-Girls High School Expands Makerspace to More Than Four Times Original Size

• By Yvonne Marquez
• 12/14/20

Saint Joseph Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Cleveland, expanded its Makerspace innovation lab to 4,800 square feet, more than four times the size of the former makerspace. The expanded space creates a larger hands-on area for students to explore and create using a variety of STEAM-related tools.

“At Saint Joseph Academy, our young women have not only any opportunity, they have every opportunity,” President Kathryn Purcell said in a press release. “The key to making the Makerspace innovation lab a place that students think about using in their design process is to provide our young women with structured opportunities in the Makerspace innovation lab so they are comfortable with the equipment and develop the ‘what if’ mentality. The Class of 2020 graduates were three times more likely than the national average of females choosing engineering as a major.”

The most popular tools in the makerspace include 3D printers, laser engravers, vinyl cutters, the green screen and digital cameras. The makerspace also offers

Some examples of student projects created in the makerspace include:

• Graphic Design II students used the laser cutter and Adobe graphic software to create their own clocks.
• Honors Geometry students designed city street maps using the CorelDraw program, then engraved their maps on wood, and later added 3D buildings to the maps.
• Art 1 students used the makerspace to translate their learning of tessellations within their color theory unit. Students used software to digitally draw an outline of their motif and then used the laser engraver to print a tile of their design.