Elise Spontarelli -
Makerversity: Postponed until Summer 2021
Due to COVID-19 travel restictions and safety concerns, our Makerversity program has been postponed until Summer 2021. Curriculum and instructors are subject to change, but what will remain is our commitment to exciting, engaging, hands-on experiences for rising college students.
After four years of hosting some of the nation's most immersive and exciting maker camps for Central Virginia students, Vector Space is now opening enrollment to a national audience. We are excited to partner with Cognizant and Randolph College to offer one of the nation's top boarding camps for makers. Our programming combines in-depth examination of materials, and the use of exciting new technologies and some of human kind's oldest fabrication techniques. Each camp is taught by leading maker educators recruited from around the country. Each of our three one-week camps has just ten student spots available, ensuring an amazing personalized learning experience for each camper. Read more below to learn how rising college freshmen can spend the best summer of their lives learning and making at Vector Space. 
Makerversity Boarding Camp Schedule
Week 1 - TBD, July 2021
Wake Up: Learn to tell time by making an electronic alarm clock
Week 2 - TBD, July 2021
Get Dressed: Make your dorm loungewear from scratch
Week 3 - TBD, July 2021
Take Notes: Make a pen and a journal, starting from the beginning
About These Camps
The task of the college student can feel overwhelming. Sent hundreds of miles from home into an environment unlike any they have experienced before, expected to live independently while simultaneously tasked with learning the depths of thermodynamics and calculus. Navigating dorm furniture, food plans, a laptop with decent wifi connection, and parking passes. But at its core, the task is simple: the student must wake up, get dressed, and take notes. Our student to teacher ratio is capped at 5:1, which means these camps of ten students each will be lead by two maker educators who will be assisted by community volunteers and knowledgeable guest speakers. A local cultural guide, versed in art, history, and the culture of Central Virginia, will accompany students to evening activities. To read more about our educational philosophy at Vector Space and how we are changing the future of youth in our programs, click here.
About Vector Space
Vector Space is a nonprofit makerspace: a physical place for people interested in science, technology, engineering, art, and math to collaborate, invent, discover, and build the things that interest them. Our mission is to build an open and collaborative community that fosters innovation, creativity, and the pursuit of science-based knowledge.
The makerspace is member-based for adults, and offers workshops for teens and adults. During and after school maker education programs are offered throughout the school year and during summer months. Our classes, workshops and projects inspire members to share knowledge, learn from each other, and mentor others. Each lesson is hands-on and taught by local makers and professionals: professors, engineers, graphic designers, woodworkers, computer scientists and more. Vector Space a is nonprofit organization managed by a Board of Directors and organized exclusively for educational and scientific purposes as defined by section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia is a small city of 80,000 residents, nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and bordered by the beautiful James River. Like many former trade and manufacturing cities across America, ours is undergoing tremendous growth and revitalization after a devastating mid-century move towards suburbs and strip malls. In the last twenty years, Lynchburg residents are slowing beginning to look back up at the historic facades that have been mostly preserved, and are remembering a history of thriving maker businesses in downtown.
Vector Space is located in Lynchburg’s historic and vibrant downtown district. Locally owned storefronts, coffee shops, eateries, and more offer unique and memorable opportunities year round. Multiple new restaurants and retail spaces are opening each year, while natural beauty remains accessible within city limits on the river, the rails-to-trails bike path, and along miles of beautiful hiking trails. Our home on 5th Street, formerly the thriving center for African American businesses, was once an abandoned retail area with high crime rates but has come back to life with the opening of the makerspace, restaurants, and small storefronts that have either survived the worst or returned to find a corridor almost reminiscent of its bustling past. Lynchburg is the home of five colleges and universities and the median age of residents is 28.7, providing a young audience invested in craft food, local culture, and meaningful objects and experiences.
Our Sponsor
This program is generously funded by Cognizant's Making the Future program, which seeks to inspire young learners to pursue science, technology, engineering and math disciplines by creating fun, hands-on learning opportunities.
