The Hawthorne High School Library Media Center recently welcomed a 3-D printer to its emerging Makerspace. The Ultimaker 2 printer and Makerbot scanner were purchased with funds from a grant awarded to the library by the Hawthorne Education Foundation. The plastic filament for the printer was purchased with funds that were obtained when the high school won second place in a video contest sponsored by Lands’ End.

The 3-D printer brings together mathematical reasoning, artistic sensibility and engineering processes that allow students to independently solve real problems as true scientists, designers, and inventors. Library media specialist, Theresa DiGeronimo, says, “This printer has shown me what real education can be all about. Students are so excited to be in the library before school, during lunch and after school working together to create computer-generated designs that they can then transfer to the printer. They are so eager to figure this out and make it work. I can’t wait until next September when we officially open our new Makerspace and introduce a variety of hands-on activities in computer coding, electronics, robotics, sewing, knitting, construction and assemblage. This is just the start.”