NextFab Design Challenge 2024
This past summer was simply inspirational. After leading the middle school iDesign challenge, I had a group of students who were just itching to compete in something like that for their own age group. NextFab, a professional makerspace in Philadelphia, was happy to oblige. Together, we collaborated to program a design challenge worthy of the top students who led the middle school design challenge.
The competition spanned four days: in the first two days, they learned woodworking skills and how to program and use Arduinos. In the last two days, the planned, prototyped, and presented their ideas to judges with technical expertise and entrepreneurial experience. My favorite part of the event was hearing how my 17-year-old student felt affirmed after having her idea validated by a professional consultant that worked at NextFab. As I saw her operate the Bridgeport milling machine (under watchful supervision), I could picture her ten years from now, confidently fixing something in her car or house because she had this hands-on experience with industrial equipment.
Here's a short video I put together to capture some highlights of the event:
Additional coverage:
