One of the most unique aspects of Wooster School and Summer at Wooster is by far the Makerspace program run by Kimberly Gerardi. Makerspace is taught as a way to give kids a foundation of hands on work from woodshop to circuitry and to give them a little taste of design while channeling their inner creativity and imaginations. Kim is in charge of everything Makerspace, and is the technical director for the theater at Wooster School. Kim went to SUNY Purchase for her masters in design technology and has a major concentration in scenic design. Kim has truly done it all. As a freelance designer, Kim has designed and built things like sets at tradeshows, lounges for companies at film festivals, movies, music videos, photoshoots, and more. Kim is passionate for all things in the field of design and feels that children should be introduced to it at a young age in order to keep up with today's flow of technology. We asked Kim why design and engineering is something kids would want to learn about and she immediately knew. She remarked, "..like math, the information will never change in order for things to be built, if they have a foundation, they can move forward and apply that knowledge in the future and explore technology."
In past Summer at Wooster sessions, Kim has taught specific Makerspace classes, focusing in on one concept with the kids nearly mastering it by the end of the week. This past session however, Kim has given her students the chance to explore what Makerspace has to offer and let them experiment and discover their passions. To finish up, we asked Kim what her favorite aspect of Makerspace was and, as expected, it is something that has never been done before. Kim is introducing a new project at Wooster School called the Tiny House project. Within this assignment, students will be literally building their own fully-functioning tiny house, such as these. This project will incorporate things such as drafting, architecture, design, construction, circuitry, plumbing, innovation, and more. We can't think of a better way to find your Makerspace calling!
Being a Wooster School mom as well as a part of the Wooster School faculty, we asked Kim from a parent's perspective why she wants her kids to be in involved in Makerspace. Kim shared that obviously parents are always involved in their children's interests one way or another, that will never change. However, the way adults create and divulge into something is entirely different from the way a child does. Kim told us she could teach the same thing about building/design to a group of kids and will get twenty unique results from it, then teach to another group and get twenty more results, all different and individualistic from the others. It is a new day and age, and the way Kim went about her life as a child is entirely different from the way her kids go about theirs. She wants to give them the opportunity to further expand their minds and creativity through the ways of building and design. What we expose children to today impacts what our world will grasp in the future, and getting your child into Makerspace is the perfect first step.
Spaces are still available for Session 5, 6, and 7 of Summer at Wooster. Go online today and visit http://summeratwooster.org to learn more.