Halloween Light-Up Cards

During Halloween week, the library hosted an event for both middle and upper school students to come in during lunch to make light-up Halloween cards. In order to light up the cards, students created electrical circuits with copper tape, LEDs, and coin cell batteries. See some of the photos from the event below and be on the lookout for future library maker events!

Electronic Greeting Cards

On Tuesday, November 28, a group of students gathered in the library to make light up greeting cards during a maker event hosted by the Library and Computer Services Departments. First, students decided whether to make a birthday or holiday card and created a design. Next, they built a circuit using LED lights, coin cell batteries, and copper tape. Finally, they put it all together and watched their creations glow. Check out some of the final cards below!

A group starts by deciding on their card designs.

Aaryan plans out where to put the copper tape on his circuit.

Jason sets up the circuit on his card.

Kyle uses a Christmas tree as his background.

Allison tests out the lights on her circuit.

Delilah used various lights to illuminate her card.

Channing works on a card for her sister.

Quincy shows off his finished product.

Max and Isato added a three dimensional element to their cards.

If you missed this event and still want to have some maker fun, stop by the library this week to participate in the Sphero Challenge for Computer Science Education Week. 

Electric Origami

Due to the popularity of last year's Electric Origami event, the Library and Computer Services Departments decided to offer another chance to explore 3D design and circuitry. Students were again provided with a license to the Foldify app where they designed a three-dimensional figure. After printing and cutting them out, students built electrical circuits in order to add lights to their creations.

Luc and Joe design their creations in the Foldify app.

The group works on their 3D designs.

Nicholas builds a Pac Man arcade game.

Isato and Celine work on the construction of their creations.

Audrey, Emily, and Sophie work together on a Foldify creation.

Isabelle shows another student how to get an LED to light up using a battery.

Victor builds a circuit using copper tape inside his house.

Luke carefully designs his circuit in order to light up his LEDs.

Maggie works on her design while Celine builds a circuit.

Isabelle shows off her elaborate contraption.

Celine made several different creations, using LEDs in different ways.

If you have an idea for another library event, contact Mrs. Shaurette or Mr. Petkus in the library.

Electric Origami

On Monday, November 23 a group of students gathered in the library to make light up three-dimensional creations during the Electric Origami event hosted by the Library and Computer Services Departments. Eager students first dove into an app called Foldify to design their creations. Once they were satisfied with the way it looked, they printed it out and had the chance to fold and glue it together. The final step was to build a circuit that would allow the creations to light up with a few LEDs. Check out some of our designers and engineers in action below.

After looking through the Foldify app, a group decides to build some related pieces.

Ryan and Luke design their creation on the Foldify app.

Remy, George, and Daniel begin their project with the Foldify app.

Ken prints out his finished design.

Mr. Shaw explains how to use conductive tape in order to build a circuit.

Linda and Ken cut out a creation they designed using photos.

After printing and cutting it out, Owen folds his creation together.

Ms. Sellar helps Owen choose materials for his electric circuit.

Luc experiments with LEDs.

Luke demonstrates how the LEDs work.

Mena experiments with adding LEDs to her creation.

Sam and Ben show off their finished creations.

Rohin shows off the two pieces he made.

Remy shows off the arcade game console he created.

Luke tries on his light-up mask.

Thank you to everyone who participated. If you didn't get a chance to join us for this event, don't worry. We will be hosting more events like this in future! Look out for announcements from Mrs. Shaurette and Mr. Petkus.

"Hack Your Wardrobe" in the Library

On Monday, April 27, the Library and Computer Services Departments invited students and faculty members to participate in a maker workshop in order to gain experience in building wearable technology. In addition to figuring out how to build a circuit that would illuminate a string of LED lights, participants got experience sewing with conductive thread and programming a microcontroller. Check out some of our participants in action below.

Ross and Ryan work on programming their microcontroller

Christine gets some assistance from Ms. Sellar

A group of middle school girls work on various stages of the project

Mr. Shaw helps Nick get started on his project

Ms. Nicolaou demonstrates for a group of lower school students

Isabella lines up the battery and microcontroller and gets ready to start sewing

Students were not the only ones to eager to participate

Alexa gets some assistance from Mr. Campbell

If you didn't get a chance to finish your project so you took it home to finish and now have questions, you can find directions here. If you would like to explore additional projects to work on independently, check out the SparkFun website for more ideas.

Did you attend the event and want to send in some feedback about it or do you have an idea for another fun event? Email Mrs. Shaurette, Mr. Petkus, or Mr. Shaw with your comments.