MakerSpace workshop fosters student networking and creativity

The Centre for Accessible Learning hosted a button-making workshop followed by a tour of the MakerSpace incubator on Wednesday, Jan. 17 at the Woodroffe campus.

The workshop marks the first in a series of workshops this semester. These workshops promote creative projects and initiate networking opportunities for CAL students.

“We have a partnership with the MakerSpace where we have a program called Creative Collision,” said Zeynep Guzide, a disability services counsellor. “It was really about bringing more awareness about MakerSpace for our students.”

Participants primarily attended the workshop to meet other students and explore the MakerSpace.

Brader “Brad” Aram-Ali, a first-year animation student, shared the challenges of feeling isolated. “I’m slowly going insane in my house I just needed to leave,” said Aram-Ali. “And I have not been to the MakerSpace itself, I’d like to go there.”

Milan Neven a former electrical engineering student at Algonquin College expressed a renewed interest in self-made electronics.

“I used to take electrical engineering and I used to do a lot of do-it-yourself electronics in the past,” he said. “I want to get back into it and I heard about the MakerSpace, and it motivated me to take a look.”

MakerSpace is a hub where like-minded people collaborate on creative projects using unique technologies and tools. The Algonquin MakerSpace incubator includes 3D printers, laser printers, vinyl cutters, button-making machines and much more.

“MakerSpace is a place that has all kinds of cool technology tools,” said Stephen Gagne, entrepreneurship officer with the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre. “The goal of the space is to give anybody in the college that wants to learn to make stuff, access to those tools.”

The button making workshop process was easy to learn, some of the participants were teaching incoming students who arrived after the initial demonstration.

Ching Fung, a first-year illustration and concept art student, enjoyed her first button- making experience and found the process easy.

“This is my first time, it’s easy to understand,” Fung said. “There are many resources to use, like the magazines, and I can print, or draw.”

“The DARE district MakerSpace located at C276 is open to all students,” said Gagne. “If you have questions about the Makerspace come see us.”