Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

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.

About the Author

Yvonne Marquez is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • UT-San Antonio Begins Residence Hall Renovations

    The University of Texas at San Antonio recently began a $6-million renovation project to one of its residence halls, according to a news release. Originally completed in 1986, Chisolm Hall measures in at 120,860 square feet and is the oldest and largest residence hall on campus.

  • Phoenix High School Completes First Phase of Campus Renovations

    Metro Tech High School, part of the Phoenix Union High School District (PXU) in Phoenix, Ariz., recently announced the completion of the first stage of a campus renovation project, according to a news release. The school reopened a series of public-facing business operations spaces including credit union, daycare, floral, cosmetology, and culinary services. It also includes new CTE learning spaces for the school’s nursing assistant, pharmacy, and sports medicine programs.

  • Amazon Expands Lockers to More Than 500 College, University Campuses

    Amazon recently announced that its Locker Network now totals more than 750 locations at more than 500 college and university campuses around the United States, according to a company news release.