A space to create
West implements three new rooms in the library to allow students to digitally create.
September 1, 2016
Starting this year, Principal Dr. Shoultz is implementing “Maker Spaces” in the upstairs library. These three rooms will allow students to have a place to work on TV, radio and podcast-related multimedia projects for school or personal use. A third room is for printing large posters, like the ones currently being placed around the hallways. On Monday, Sept. 5, 2016 clubs will get their first chance to design and print posters for the school and club fair.
The first of the three rooms is designed for podcast or radio projects. Many programs are available to use, such as Audacity and Soundtrap; the latter is similar to Apple’s Garageband. To record their voices, students will also have access to microphones in the studio space.
For student video creation, the second room contains a green screen, video mixers and sound mixers. Dr. Shoultz hopes that students will be able to use these to their advantage to make more engaging projects.
“These will let students make more interactive projects,” he said. “[For example] if a student is doing a project, they can use the green screen to immerse themselves in it.”
As the year progresses and more students use the spaces, the hope is that people will be able to share their creations.
The third room is designed for printing large scale posters. Because of the cost required to print such large posters, departments and clubs will get a chance to print first. It is still being decided if individual students will be able to use the printing space. There are also hopes that the art departments will be able to use the printer space to continue to liven up the hallways with more posters containing aspects of the school.
Ultimately, the goal of the spaces is to show off student art and talent as much as possible through the mediums of tv, audio and print. If someone wants to check into one of the spaces all they need to do is ask a library associate for the sign in sheet, and sign in. As long as the room is not booked, students are welcome and encouraged to use these rooms to improve their skills in art and their school projects.
