The Bronco Makerspace was designed and installed by 1st Maker Space in the summer of 2021 and recently opened with the new school year in September of 2021. Pictures of the new Bronco Makerspace can be found here: https://1stmakerspace.com/locations/daleville-high-school/
The makerspace is accessible to all students in grades 6-12, and an additional makerspace is in development at Daleville Elementary for younger grade levels. Every 7th and 8th grade student at Daleville rotates through makerspace on a nine-week consecutive rotation. The Bronco Makerspace is part of a K-12 initiative to expose students to automation, manufacturing, and robotics during the school day to prepare students for the careers of the future, many of which are located right in Daleville.
The availability of ESSER Funding allowed Daleville to invest in the makerspace for both current and future students. The investment in a makerspace will impact students for years to come and bring hands-on learning to life across the district. “When students make something, they apply their learning, and less learning is lost,” said Mr. Dalton Baysinger, Maker Manager at Daleville Jr./Sr. High School.
Although ESSER funding brought the vision of a makerspace to life, the original vision was cast out of the high demand for advanced manufacturing in the East Central Region of Indiana. “The makerspace gave us a vehicle to enter a partnership with Magna in Muncie,” said Superintendent Greg Roach. “Daleville has been working on building a career pathway for Advanced Manufacturing and Magna has been a critical partner to build a pathway that works for both education and industry.”
“Many families and students still perceive Advanced Technologies to be “dirty”, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Advanced Technologies is safe and clean; these are not your father’s factories,” said Stephen Brand, General Manager at the Magna facility in Muncie. “We value our partnership with Daleville because it has allowed us to share our needs as an employer directly with the local school. We are able to share what we do with our local school to help change the perception of Advanced Technologies in our community. We are also able to help build the pathway with them together as partners, so we are both invested in the outcome.”
Daleville intends to continue to build the Advanced Manufacturing CTE Pathway at Daleville High School to include an Advanced Technologies course, taught by an employee at Magna. Teachers from Daleville also can do an externship with Magna over the summer, which provides valuable industry experience that they can later bring directly to the classroom. The pictures below showcase a LEGO simulation at Daleville High School conducted by the team at the Magna facility in Muncie.
Daleville intends to open the makerspace up to the community in the future for family making nights to involve parents. “My goal is to help students find their passion by providing experiences,” said Mr. Roach. “I look forward to students coming back and sharing their stories of how making impacted their lives.”
