New education platforms at Brooklyn’s St. Joseph’s H.S. FabLab are opening up new options for future leaders to learn.
Students have begun spending time in a classroom filled with technology. With 3D printers, laser cutters, milling machines, vinyl cutters, and a computer that can program machines on demand to do special commands, students at St. Joseph’s High School in Downtown Brooklyn are actually being integrated into the first installment of learning digital fabrication and computation.
Jessica Peters, a senior, wants to one day be a biomedical engineer. “Learning digital fabrication and other technological processes definitely empowers me to be the best that I can be,” Peters said. “I have a passion for engineering, a [generally] male-dominated field, creating great challenges that I will work my hardest to overcome.”
One component of being an official Fab Lab Connect partner is being able to connect with the larger community of inventors and creators, which spans at least 80 countries and creates a global network of research and invention.
In addition to assembling a 3D printer furnished by Ultimaker, the school has begun assembling 3D-printed prosthetic hands. “It empowers me to grow and help the world…like printing prosthetic hands that will allow kids without a hand not to feel different in society but ‘cool,’” said SJHS junior Samantha Acosta, pictured in the beginning of the article.
