Happy Engineers Week! We are celebrating for the third year in a row with our partner Framatome Inc. Each year we host a free Family Night Workshop where kids ages 8-12 and their caregivers can come together to learn about and explore engineering. We provide the tools and materials for a hands-on project, which changes every year. In the past we have done earthquake shaker tables and a giant pinko board.

This Fall myself and Adam Hughes lead two projects with students from Linkhorne Middle School. Each group met at Vector Space for two hours once per week, for the entirety of the semester. On Mondays our students worked to create an anti-fighting campaign to spread to their peers at school, as well as an FPV robot for home security.

This Fall myself and Adam Hughes lead two projects with students from Linkhorne Middle School. Each group met at Vector Space for two hours once per week, for the entirety of the semester. On Wednesday our students turned to computer programming and microcontrollers to make their daily lives easier and more efficient.

Background

As the holidays approach, we polled our members to see what the most sought-after tools and gadgets are this year. Read below for inspiration to add to your own list, or to buy for your loved ones!

1. Makerspace Access

MozART's Data

After 73 days, MozART's performance has come to an end. It's time to take a look at the data and see what Lynchburg residents are playing and when they're playing it.

From July 23 to the 25, myself (Jeff) and Elise Spontarelli were invited by Cognizant to attend the Boy Scout National Jamboree as a part of the STEMQuest village in order to help facilitate the stations available for scouts. Among the activities available were drone flying with the new DJI spark, block programming with the BBC Micro:bit, CNC milling with Shopbot, soldering skills (led by yours truly) and screenprinting (led by Elise). Overall, there were several hundred scouts that passed under our tent in the day and a half that we were working, and a grand total of 50,000 scouts and staff in attendance for the whole 2 weeks.

For one week in July, Vector Space was turned into a full service, bike-hacking, pedal zone. With donated bikes from Bikes Unlimited, Scene 3, The Bike Shack at Lynchburg College, and L. Oppleman, we had frames, handlebars, and chains for days. The camp was lead by myself and my husband Adam as well as Jawansa and Michelline Hall, the dynamic duo behind Blackwater Branding.

By Elise Spontarelli

We are excited to announce a lineup of events for all ages during the National Week of Making. Sponsored by Innovative Wireless Technologies, Inc., our four events include a free meetup for educators, family workshop, college night, and escape room demo.

Escape Room Demo - Monday, 6/19 at 5:30PM