By Naomi Tsuang
Staff Writer
The Geeks Club and Library Club sponsored Mira Costa’s second Maker Fair of the school year on Jan. 14 in order to promote the 3D printers and other activities in the library.
Over 50 students participated in activities including arts and crafts, engineering, science projects and Do It Yourself projects. The Geeks Club, the Library Club, the Girls Coding Club, the Art Club and the Robotics Club provided these activities. Costa teacher librarian Jane Lofton said that the fair gave students a chance to learn new skills and be creative while having fun.
“The Maker Fair was a big success,” Geeks Club co-president senior Shivain Chopra said. “We had many students show interest in the different displays. [It] was our most successful one yet.”
Each club offered a different activity that was displayed around the library. Science-based activities included designing 3D objects and 3D modeling, experiencing how the 3D printers worked and experimenting with littleBits electronic components. Art-related activities included making pinwheels as part of a community service project to support displaced Syrian youth and creating art from discarded books.
“[The fair] gave more students an opportunity to explore activities and skills they may not have been exposed to before,” Lofton said. “Everyone is different. One activity may really interest a student while another may not. Multiple activities allows for more choices. We wanted people to get to spend time with several different activities over the course of the event.”
Lofton and members from the Geeks Club and Library Club worked together to organize the Maker Fair by hosting planning discussions. Club members and Lofton worked together to make connections with other clubs by creating a Google Form to get information from clubs wanting to participate with an activity.
“[The Library Club] saw [the fair] as a way to not only showcase the achievements and goals of the various clubs on campus, but as a way to make the library accessible, not just to do homework or work on apps or meet for group projects, but as a resource for student-run organizations,” Library Club president senior Danit Rich said.
Chopra stated that the clubs hope to expand the Maker Fair in the future by involving more clubs, increasing student attendance and featuring guest speakers and local technology companies.
“This time, the Maker Fair is of a larger scale than our previous one, which is a sign of positive forward movement,” Rich said. “Hopefully they will keep getting bigger and will help give more clubs chances to showcase what they’ve been doing.”
Leave a Reply