Celebrating the #NationOfMakers and the Week of Making

The MakerLab was setup with a mission to allow users to experience "making" with digital technologies, and show them that it is possible for everyone to be a maker. We have had the pleasure of hosting several hundred makers over the last two years, from across campus, area schools, and community members over the last two years. We could not have done without the support of our partners, such as Autodesk, Caterpillar and P&G and individuals who have donated generously. We have also reached out to the community with two field labs in West side of Chicago and in South Illinois, with our support of the Illinois Marketplace and Maker Literacy Project, funded by a $300,000 grant from the University of Illinois Extension. The university(along with several other schools) signed a letter of support for Making to the President last year. This year the White House is celebrating the anniversary of the first ever Makerfaire , held in June 2014, with some more events. In addition, we are part of the MakeSchools alliance, who have submitted a commitment to making from the schools in a letter to the president this year. The whitehouse press release gives a shout out to Illinois for supporting spaces such as ours, from among over seventy schools.

We are celebrating the National Maker Faire , and the week of Making with a variety of workshops. with something for everyone, from the MakerGirl workshops, to high school robotics and 3dprinting, and our Maker Certificate series.

To launch this special event, we are having the Free Print Friday on June 12th, with extended open hours from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm If your print takes less than one hour, we print it free! Just for today, so join us and be a part of the #NationOfMakers.