How our makerspace is different than others?
Three distinct ways that our makerspace is different from others:
- The Hive is fully staffed. Many makerspace’s are staffed by teachers or staff who have many other responsibilities, meaning they can’t always focus their full attention on the space. At NEIA, a fully staffed makerspace allows teachers to center all their time on teaching while The Hive staff makes sure the makerspace has all the resources to do what students are instructed or want to do. One does not overlap with the other to allow each to have full focus. This also means that students can access the resources in The Hive at any time, allowing them to pursue their passions outside of any time constraint.
- The Hive offers collegiate-level machinery. We don’t say this to just brag about the crazy machines we have to offer, but rather to highlight the running start that our students gain for college and beyond. By starting our students off on these machines as early as 6th grade, their potential grows that much greater.
- The Hive is not just for one group of people. What we mean by this is that in many other schools, spaces like this are just for the engineering club or just the science club. At NEIA, collaboration in as many ways as possible is crucial to our curriculum, which is why The Hive is meant to be used by any student, teacher, and staff member. The Hive is also a key part of our Innovation Studio curriculum, meaning every single student must utilize it for their coursework. Aside from that, any student, teacher, and staff member can also use The Hive for their own personal passion projects.
"The Hive is the space where we provide the resources for our students to create based on what they are learning in their classes."
The Hive Setup:
The Hive is split up into three sections: The Woodshop, The CNC Space, and The Free Space.
The Woodshop:
Equipped with band saws, drill presses, miter saws, and more! Our woodshop partners with Dewalt and Rikon to get the latest equipment for our makerspace. Our Hive members closely monitor this section at all times to ensure safety above all.
The CNC Space:
Equipped with 3D printers, CNC machines, large format printers, virtual reality headsets, and more! Our CNC space includes top tier machines like the XRISE 3D Printer, the first full-color industrial 3D printer to create functional parts with minimal post processing.
The Variable Collaboration Space:
This space is where students have a lot of free range and can work on a variety of different projects. In this space we have equipment including robotics gear, sewing supplies, glue guns, and many other things you may need to create.
