8th Graders Give Back to St. Peter
Christmas may be the season of giving, but St. Peter students use their talents to serve others all year round. So it comes as no surprise that two of St. Peter's eighth-grade students decided to give back by using the new Makerspace Lab to create something for the school.
The Makerspace Lab is a creative physical space used to learn, explore, and share ideas using both low tech and high tech tools. St. Peter students can learn by designing and trying out new things, and sometimes by failing and trying again. The students have access to 3-D printers, laser cutters, a scroll saw, soldering equipment, a drill press, sanders, wood burners, cricuts, and a plethora of hand tools, including coping and hand saws, files, socket wrenches and hand drills. Our students don't know it yet, but even a robotic arm is arriving in January! The possibilities are endless. So when Mr. Bob Vossel needed a cover for an older thermostat in the building, he knew where to go for help.
A cover for the older model thermostat was difficult to find. It was either exorbitantly expensive or not available. Two 8th graders, Jackson, who is in person, and Jacob, who is fully remote, leaped into action to solve the problem. Mrs. Murphy sent Jacob the dimensions of the thermostat, as well as some pictures, and he set to work designing the cover. He then connected to the 3-D printer remotely and sent over his designs. Jackson came into the lab and loaded the plans and printed them. Some revisions needed to be made along the way. A part snapped off of one attempt. The realization that the design needed to be slightly altered to create slots to snap the cover into place resulted in an additional attempt. By the 4th attempt, the 3-D printed plastic cover fit the thermostat like a glove. The efforts of these students helped our facilities department get what they needed and saved the school some money in the process!
The middle school students are doing amazing things in the Makerspace lab. It is incredible to see the things that they can create and how they can share the gifts and talents that God has given them to help the school.
