Genoa-Kingston High School Business Teacher Ryan Read is raising money to help his students reach their full potential in creativity and engineering by raising money for a new Cricut Design System, which he hopes will eventually be part of a larger MakerSpace that more students can use.
"This will allow my current students to use their creativity to create and form their projects," Read explained in his Donors Choose project page. "My students are gifted and I don't want them to be limited. I want them to be the true engineers of tomorrow."
Several years ago, Read said his students "fell in love" with his Graphic Design class, which included the Cricut system.
"It allowed my students to take the projects they visualized digitally and then be transformed into physical items from graphics to personal items to use for our school," he said. "As time went on they created more projects and became young entrepreneurs in our classroom."
When he switched schools and came to the high school, he said his new students were just as interested and talented, but lacked the Cricut — so he brought in his own from home.
His class was successful in getting a 3D printer, which has been a great opportunity, Read said. But to fully complete his idea for a Maker Space studio, and to take his students' projects to the next level, he's raising funds to get the class its own Cricut system.
However, Read's students aren't the only one using the machine, and wouldn't be the only ones privy to the Maker Space. In fact, students from Mr. Sellers', Ms. Gabriel's, Ms. Yargus' and Mr. Astling's classes also use the technology because the Maker Space falls under the umbrella of career and technical education — meaning it's used for business, but also agriculture, culinary arts, industrial design, and more.
"All of our students want to be creators and producers rather than consumers," Read said. "The Maker Space is just that, becoming producers for their classes that will stay with them long after class has concluded."
The space would "foster innovation through hands-on experimentation" by having the opportunity to be creative and apply personalized learning strategies to make changes to existing concepts — or develop their own ideas, methods or products, he added.
"The 3D printer we had funded this past fall was step one in creating the Maker Space community," Read explained. "And it's why we want to move to the next part with a Cricut. A Cricut inspires creativity for the classroom, the home, and all kinds of DIY projects. It is amazing what these machines can do."
This will range from creative crafts to making their own design logos and more, he said.
"In my wildest dreams, the Maker Space would be an open space that would allow all departments to have their students create, design, and be applicable to any career they plan on going into and being the problem solvers of tomorrow."
Click here to donate to Mr. Read's Maker Space — but do so quickly because it ends March 31!