By RORY MOORE
Tiger Media Network
The Science and Mathematics Education Institute at Fort Hays is hosting MakerSpace Wednesday inside room 102 at Picken Hall for the Fall 2024 semester. Since Aug. 21, the event has featured different activities every Wednesday.
G.G. Lanchbaugh, coordinator for outreach for the Science and Mathematics Institute, hosts the event for students, faculty and members of the public.
“The MakerSpace first started in the library in 2013,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for six years now. We highlight one project that you could do with the MakerSpace tools just so people can come in, try the tools, and get a little more familiar with some of the different things we offer.”
Yesterday’s event focused on teaching people how to make a bookmark with their 3D pen
“You can build a lot more complex things with a 3D pen,” Lanchbaugh said. “You can make a full 3D sculpture or something, but something flat is a good thing to start with, especially since we want to offer this as a learning project to everyone.”
Lanchbaugh not only wants people to learn how to create items with common MakerSpace tools, but he also wants to show them what is available at Picken Hall due to its place on campus.
“The main thing we’re doing with these events is to make people aware of the resources we have,” he said.” With our location a little out of the way, a lot of people don’t know we’re here. So, we have these events to get people to come in, show them some of the stuff we have available, and then we find that if they come in once, they’re a lot more likely to come back another time.”
Diane Hernandez Ramirez, a staff member in FHSU Online, came to MakerSpace Wednesday to learn about the technique of using a 3D pen.
“With the pen, I had to put it on the plastic sheet,” Ramirez said. “I made what was either lips or a leaf. I don’t know, it was my first time doing it.”
Despite her lack of experience using a 3D pen, Ramirez enjoyed the opportunity and is glad that other people can learn for themselves.
“I love it,” she said. “Erica [Meneses] and I come every single time during our lunch just because it’s so fun. It’s worth using half of my lunchtime to come here and do this.”
The response from those who have participated in the weekly event has been generally positive, with some making regular visits to work on projects.
“People tend to enjoy it,” Lanchbaugh said. “If people come the first week, they come back the second week just to try a new project. I’ve also had several other people who came and got an idea for something that they wanted to do at another time. The other week, we did some laser engraving, and the week before that we did something with our vinyl sticker maker, and that gave several people some ideas for something they wanted to do later on.”
MakerSpace Wednesdays are from 12-2 p.m. each Wednesday in Picken Hall 102. The full schedule of MakerSpace Wenesday projects and more information on MakerSpace can be found here.
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