Every school needs a place for students to escape to and express their creative ideas. For that reason, Shawn Coleman, sophomore, is in the process of creating a makerspace in the library, complete with machines and materials to let students’s imaginations and artistic minds run free.

“When I was in 8th grade I participated in the makerspace that was located at Brittany Woods Middle School,” Coleman said. “When I arrived at the school this year, I saw the room and immediately had a vision for what it could be. I want a space that students can go to to express themselves creatively. Basically a STEAM room.”

This process to create a makerspace was not so easy for Coleman since he had to wait for the administration to approve the project, but with the support of Christina Sneed, English Language Arts curriculum and instruction coordinator, it was possible.

“It will have a heat press for making t-shirts, a 3D printer, and the circut that is able to cut many different materials to be used in projects,’’ Coleman said. “On the way we currently have a lot of art materials, which includes basic crayons, markers and colored pencils, but we also have paint canvases, paint kits, brushes and things of that sort.”

Sneed sees a bright future in Coleman and his ideas and helped him convince the administration to fund him with $15,000 to put the space together.

“Shawn is an impressive young man,” Sneed said. I appreciate his passion and interest in leading and creating something for the entire school community to enjoy that also connects with all of our learning objectives.”

Coleman was motivated to make the space to provide students with more options to apply creativity to their learning.

“It is really important for me to give students a place to express themselves because sometimes I feel that they don’t have a place to do so, and I want to give that to them,” Coleman said. “This room will unlock skills in people that they were not aware they had before. A lot of the skills that will be absorbed while in the room can also be used outside of it as well.”

Creating the makerspace has been a fun process for Coleman as he had to put his creative mind into the room to make it enjoyable for students.

“Sketching out the room and trying to create a layout for it was really cool, having an idea, putting it on paper,” Coleman said. “Talking and communicating with the administration has also been a surprisingly favorite part of mine. And now I’m finally starting to see it come together.”