The library is a great place for students to wind down and get away from all their academic stress. It allows students to take a break, read a book, or catch up on their homework. However, the new addition to the library will allow students the ability to do a bit more and express their creative side.  

Over the summer, Lake Ridge created a new room in the library called, “The Maker Space.” The Maker Space is a room where students are allowed to express their creativity and do hands-on activities. The room was created in June with library funds to complete the project. According to Ginger McKay, Librarian Assistant, the room has activities that may not be available to others.

“I feel like they’re getting a learning environment that they cannot get in the classroom, so in the classroom, it’s more books, it’s more iPads where you’re just reading, you’re doing papers. In here, it’s more creativity. They’re using their minds, their hands, they’re doing hands on things, they’re experimenting with things that some students will never get to experiment because they don’t have the opportunity outside of school to do so,” said McKay.

In the Maker Space, students are allowed to experiment with miniature robots, controlled by mobile devices, in order to practice their mechanical skills and coding. Currently, the green screen has been used mostly for video recording along with Do Ink, a green screen app that allows students to add new and exciting backgrounds. Librarian Patricia Becht hopes that students will be able to experiment with things they never thought possible.

“I’d like to get where students can use technology that they’re not accustomed to using while in the classroom now,” Becht stated.

Not only does the room allow students to interact with technology and create new things, but it also allows students to explore new concepts such as engineering and geology. Students are allowed to use features such as the virtual reality goggles in order to explore and conduct research about new places that they would not be able to experience in their everyday lives.

Chris Ricks, sophomore, believes The Maker Space will help him in Academic Decatholon by using the green screen to better materialize his new learned concepts.

“The room opens a branch of creativity I and others are able to produce. It helps me in AcaDec to push my learning abilities and apply that to my class. My creativity levels are elevated and this will definitely benefit and contribute what Lake Ridge has to offer,” said Ricks.

The room and its features are open to the public but not all of its features are available at the moment such as the 3D printer. Despite the delay, Ezra Williams, Library Aide, believes the room will be fully functional soon. For now, students are allowed to use the tools the room provides in order to interact with technology and explore the world around us. Williams believes it will be an exciting feature for many years to come.

“I think the Maker Space will allow students to step out of their comfort zone and really grapple with the world around us and to engage it in different and unique ways through technology and the infusion of art and creativity,” Williams explained.

At Lake Ridge, students in the classroom are taught to be academically inclined, but with the addition of the Maker Space, Lake Ridge should expect to see more creativity throughout the years to come.