posted by Chris Connors
During the weekend of September 19 -21, members of the MVRHS Innovation Club traveled to Maker Faire in New York City. The group was invited by the Maker Faire organizers to give a presentation about their project, The Two Week Electric Kart on the Make: Education stage. They spoke as a panel for 30 minutes about the experience of creating an electric kart in two weeks on a shoestring budget in time for this Spring’s Cape Cod Maker Faire.
During their time at Maker Faire, students worked on many personal projects. While they did these projects, they demonstrated their problem-solving techniques and answered questions from the public. Cal Howard programmed a maze solving robot, Kate Sudarsky worked with the designers of the Egg-Bot and Watercolor Bot tools to tune the machines and create original projects. Willow Wunsch designed a logo for the group, which she then cut on the vinyl cutter, and used to make custom t-shirts for the group to wear. Kevin Montambault designed and built a LEGO walking robot. Chris Aring, Brahmin Thurber-Carbone and Cal Howard worked on the electrical and mechanical systems of the car that they had built, and then drove it on the Power Wheels Racing track. On Sunday, several members of the group were interviewed by Caleb Kraft, MAKE magazine’s community editor.
The Innovation Club joined with Cape Cod Makers to staff a booth showing projects and teaching people how to do hands-on projects. The booth received an Editors’ Choice award from Maker Faire organizers. The trip was organized and chaperoned by Art teacher Chris Connors and Math teacher MaryLee Carlomagno.