really great salaries. And students just don’t know about it.” Maker Mart opens the door and shows kids that there are viable career options when you know how to use your hands. For the other students, who don’t have an interest in a trade career, they still acquire a skill set through their time at Maker Mart that they can carry with them the rest of their lives. A small group of students from the Noel C. Taylor Academy is bused to Maker Mart every day for two hours. The students receive two credits per semester for attending, but what they get out of the class is more than just an education. “We’ve found that having them every day, our role has gone from simply teaching the students how to make things to more of a mentorship,” Dykstra said. What is striking, he said, is how the space has shown that the empowerment gained through learning to create is blind to one’s
circumstances. Once a week, students from Community High School come to Maker Mart for a class after school, and despite the fact that their lives might be worlds different from those in the NCTS group, the same spark ignites in their eyes when they discover how capable they are with their hands. Besides empowerment, hands-on learning has other benefits: It helps heal people who have suffered trauma, it assists in workforce development, and it serves to expand the horizons of the nine-to-fiver by teaching him or her a new skill. All of us can benefit from working with our hands; when we engage in curious creativity and use our imagination, we counteract the stress that’s imposed on us from all sides. When we consciously put aside time for creative pursuits — not to make money, but simply for the sake of creating — we improve our psychological wellness.
When we consciously put aside time for creative pursuits — not to make money, but simply for the sake of creating — we improve our psychological wellness.
In addition to school groups, Maker Mart plans to offer public classes, and summer camps are already on the calendar and available for registration. Students between the age of eight and 18 can participate in week-long full-day or halfday camps starting June 10. Adult evening classes are available now, as well, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Making Foundation is a hidden gem of a nonprofit in the Roanoke Valley, and Maker Mart is a special, life-changing space. Check out makingfoundation.org for more information about what they do, who they are, classes and events, and how to help (monetary donations and volunteering your time are both wonderful ways to support The Making Foundation)!
Family/May 2019
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