WakerSpace Celebrates 5th Anniversary

WakerSpace is the community makerspace for Wake Forest University.

By Wake Forest University

November 29^th, 2023

Happy 5th Anniversary to Wake Forest University’s makerspace: WakerSpace.

The 3,000-square-foot facility, located on Aaron Lane near Dogwood and Magnolia Residence Halls, opened in November of 2018. Since then, WakerSpace makers have been using 3-D printers, a T-shirt press, a podcasting studio, laser cutters and other tools, equipment and materials to complete academic and personal projects. Open to students, faculty and staff, WakerSpace is where Wake Forest community members can learn or practice skills including woodworking, sewing, knitting, soldering, painting, computer animation, robot-building and button-making.

Overseen by the Office of the Provost, WakerSpace is available to everyone across campus in all departments and has become a place to create, problem-solve and collaborate. During the 2022-23 academic year, there were 5,167 in-person visits, 1,346 volunteer check-ins and 158 workshops. Ten faculty members regularly held classes at WakerSpace. The numbers are continuing to grow this semester.

The following images offer a snapshot of some of the activities that happen at WakerSpace each week.

3-D Printing

Paul Whitener, assistant director of digital fabrication and maker education at WakerSpace, helps a student with a 3D printer project. He is part of the information systems academic technologies team.

Making Custom T-Shirts

First-year student Kairel Stiglich, makes T-shirts and sweatshirts with vinyl lettering and logos for the Wake Forest University Club Gymnastics team.

WakerSpace Tour & Tile Making

Paul Whitener gives a class a tour and safety demonstration, before leading them in a Wake Forest branded tile making class.

Making Buttons

Spanish Professor Sara Fernandez Cuenca makes buttons to help promote her co-hosted podcast on raising multilingual children in the U.S.

Pumpkin Projects

Wake Forest students who live in Poteat Residence Hall attend a wooden pumpkin painting event. Project Pumpkin’s executive committee members and other student leaders work to create table-scapes, banners and games for kids to enjoy at the annual Halloween event.

Student Volunteers

WakerSpace has an average of 30 student volunteers each semester. The "WakerStaff" responsibilities include safety training for first-time visitors, leading workshops, greeting makers and checking them in, as well as creating a welcoming environment. Volunteer Austin Torrain (’24) leads a laser workshop for students.

“I love the laser," Torain said. "It is my favorite tool in the WakerSpace. I created some wall decorations last year of my favorite TV characters, and they have been my prized possessions.” He started volunteering the spring of his freshman year, “fell in love with the people and the atmosphere,” and has been working there ever since.

“WakerSpace serves as an outlet whenever students just need to decompress,” Torrain said. “We have students who come in regularly to paint or knit as a way to relieve stress. WakeSpace is such a warm place to learn and grow.”

Podcasting

Alizeh Chamadia (’26), Zewen Ma (’25), Helen Player (’26), and Anna Shoffner (’26) record a podcast together in a special room with sound-proof walls.

Fiber Arts

WakerSpace volunteer Holly Mullen (’24) leads Yue Yu (’26) step- by-step to crochet a shirt using yarn. A group of staff members make friendship bracelets and tote bags during an event for the Wake Forest Queer Affinity Resource Group (WFQ).

Two Missions: Academics & Wellbeing

"WakerSpace has two missions, the first is the academic mission,” said Whitener. He works with classes in two ways. Sometimes a class calls the WakerSpace home all semester long and students make something that is tied to the class. At other times, “a class does not meet at WakerSpace but students have an assignment to make something using WakerSpace tools and materials.

Students (and faculty and staff) do not have to be a part of a class to use WakerSpace.

"Our second mission at WakerSpace is our wellness mission,” Whitener said. “Wake Forest community members can come in and learn and make just because they want to. We find this wellness mission equally as important as it provides a creative outlet for makers to create, collaborate, and commune in a safe and welcoming environment."

Annie McGill (‘23), works with Whitener to refine the artwork and use a laser to create a bookshelf for a class assignment.

Bonsai Tree Painting

The Wake Forest Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. hosts a bonsai tree painting event.

Robotics Club

The Robotics Club meets to discuss project ideas. Computer science professor Pete Santago, who serves as faculty director of WakerSpace, is the club's advisor.

Making Mini-Learning Spaces

ProfessorAli Sakkal's Education 311 class students learned about the psychology of learning spaces and then designed their own learning spaces on 16x24 inch pieces of wood.

“The aim here is to create an active and enjoyable experience that pushes our thinking regarding how we best learn and how we might construct the learning spaces of the future," Sakkal said. "The WakerSpace allows both students and faculty/staff to have a creative outlet that is unlike most settings and tasks that make up our everyday lives. The hands-on and experiential learning environment is great for those of us that learn best by doing. By connecting hand and mind, we can foster deeper understanding of concepts and ourselves."

To design the perfect classroom, it helps to get out of the normal classroom.

“I like to make things,” said Kiyo Takahashi (’24), a Statistics major from Durham, North Carolina, “but I never thought I would get to do this.”

Takahashi spoke with a laser cutter whirring in one room, a 3D printer about to be called into service in another and sewing machines and other tools soon to be going in yet a third. In its entirety, the venue is known as Waker Space, a hub of interdisciplinary, experiential learning that hosts a sizeable portion of at least xxx classes in a typical semester.

On this day, Takahashi’s tasks are part of EDU 311: Learning and Cognitive Science. In the first part of the semester, Dr. Ali Sakkal gathered students in a conventional academic building for background in topics like discipline, motivation, perception, the psychology of color and the psychological elements of design and learning.

And then they moved to Waker Space, where they used the technology to construct the physical elements of a model elementary school based on the principles of human learning they had discussed.

“I learned to 3D print,” said Adam Spielman (’26), of Scarsdale, New York. “Also the first time I have used a laser cutter. It brought out my artistic side. I’m into accounting, but I’m building a preschool.”

Small groups of students designed their own portions of the larger model. They brought it all together for the final project.

“I like the idea of splitting the class in two,” Spielman said. “Now I’m building something that represents ideas. It’s the pinnacle of classroom learning and hands-on experience.”