#MarinersAre Makers: MCHS Maker Lab during Open House

As part of the digital billboard advertising our school

During Open House in previous years, the Library and Learning Commons has served as the venue for the Choral and Band performances, as well as speeches by our Principal and President.  But this year, because the Maker Lab has been featured prominently in our 50th Anniversary marketing and admissions efforts (including billboards, BART ads, and movie theater ads), the admissions team wanted to include a demo of all of our Maker Lab equipment.

Because the band needed to be up in our Maker Lab to perform, we ended up moving most of our equipment downstairs, including the 3D printers, Arduinos, Makey Makeys, LilyPads, LEGOS, Strawbees, Raspberry Pi, and Snap Circuits.

We even brought Sparki back out to highlight his ability to follow a black line (through programming the Arduino).

Our Raspberry Pi was running Raspbian, and we had Scratch and Minecraft open.  We felt were some of the more well-known and user-friendly of all the applications.

 We had Connie, our resident-crochet expert and LLC team member, set up all the yarn and crochet hooks to show that making isn't always about gadgets.  

We also thought Strawbees and LEGOs would be fun for kids to play with.  The Makey Makeys were all set up and we even got bananas (no pictures unfortunately). 

 Our attempt to follow the Makey Makey Floor Piano instructions we found in a blog did not work out as planned, but was left up to show the progress of making.  Hitting the foam pads did not always make the keys play, so we up to fix it and revamp it in time for our MCHS Maker Faire next year. 

 The 3D printers were placed prominently, and as expected were the reason a lot of parents and students wanted to see the maker lab.  We demoed a long print on the one in the lab area, and then did a shorter 30 minute print of the Maker Faire robot
 during our presentation.  

We placed signs encouraging parents and students to "play," "make," "build," and "explore" everything.  We really wanted them to feel comfortable touching and using our equipment right then and there.
 
The highlight of the presentation was our Maker Lab student representatives and speakers Kadija and Charul, who talked about what the Maker Lab has meant to them with such eloquence that parents came up asking about them after the presentation was done.  Their presence and knowledge was invaluable to our efforts to promote the Maker Lab, and we are fortunate to have them.

Happy Making!