Marietta College & the Makerspace
Heather Miller, BB2C Outreach Coordination & Marietta College Instructor
You’re a first-year student at Marietta College. You choose which Pio 101 class you’re going to take. You get to know your classmates, your instructor, and the topic of the course. Suddenly, the instructor upends the class calendar and charges you and your classmates with the task of “solving COVID-19”. What’s next?!
Welcome to the Fall 2020 Pio 101 Women EntreprenHERship class, where students learned about the characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset and how to adopt them, researched historic and contemporary women entrepreneurs, and heard from female small business owners in the Mid-Ohio Valley. Students also identified an issue created by or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They worked in groups to come up with a solution, culminating in a partnering with the Makerspace to bring their solutions to life by developing a plan, prototype, or proof of concept.
The partnership between Marietta College and the Makerspace was not an original part of the class. Neither was the idea of having students try to “solve” an issue of COVID-19. But when you’re faced with unexpected challenges, learning to adapt and find solutions is what an entrepreneurial mindset is all about. The Makerspace was an ideal place to bring students- it was large enough to ensure social distancing, it was within walking distance from campus, and it provided a wealth of resources and connections to help the students with their group projects. It also provided students an opportunity to connect more with one another as well as with people and organizations in the community. And the “Solving COVID-19” project made the topic of the course more relevant to what the students, campus, and community have been dealing with during the global pandemic.
Makerspace Director Jared Wittekind and Logistics & Epicenter Director Pamela Lankford helped develop the scope of the class project. Jared provided a video tour of the Makerspace for students to watch before visiting, so they knew what was available. And Pamela zoomed in to a class period to help students brainstorm their project solutions. The students then spent a Saturday morning working with the Makerspace Director and content experts. Their project solutions included:
A journal to support mental health
A website to connect essential workers with caregivers
A pop-up Zoom pod to decrease distance-learning distractions
Fun, individualized mask clips to use with headscarves
A personal hygiene shelf for use in communal bathrooms
This unexpected yet delightfully successful project partnership is something that BB2C and our Makespace looks forward to replicating, not only with Marietta College, but with other schools, student groups, and organizations in the community as well. To explore opportunities to incorporate hand-on learning through our Makerspace, entrepreneurship through our Small Business Incubator, or community and career-connected learning through BB2C, contact us at info@BB2Careers.org. You can also check out our website at BB2Careers.org to see our current projects, programs, and events.