Junior Evan Scott crafting a bracelet during a free period in the MakerSpace. (Paul Hansen’19/Media)

The former computer lab in our Upper School Library is now a maker space. Sewing machines, a rainbow loom, and drones have replaced the many monitors that have been in this room for years.  

Upper school librarian, Ms. Nzimiro, said that at first students were more worried about losing their quiet study space.

But after only two weeks, many students have been positive about the renovated area. Academy’s technology director, Sean Cullinan, says  “It has been an idea that has grown up around the world and country. Our school decided to build on it and make it our own. It is a forward movement, with students nationwide taking advantage of the provided resources and, perhaps, reevaluating their directions in life.”

Many students are looking forward to working on projects in their free time. The ultimate goals for the maker space is to allow students to work out outside of classes. in school. Cullinan says, “The Upper School’s space is presently in its smallest version. Great resources are available and will be added in time.”

In addition to this new space, more ore machines will be placed around the school. Coming later this year, there will be an arcade machine—not with the usual Super Mario games or Pac man—but instead with games created from our own classmates in their Computer Science classes. 

The kits in there right now are only “baby steps,” says Cullinan, who hopes that eventually students will not need kits, but build everything from scratch. 

Our  technology department has a lot planned to look forward to, and this is only the beginning.