Our Makers Making Change (new window) team had a great time at the Skills Canada National Competition on May 25th and 26th in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
With about 13,000 students on-site, we had 526 students from grades six to 12 build us Battery Interrupters (new window), which will be used in future toy adapting and build events across Canada. For many of the students, this was the first time they ever soldered. (We also had some of the super keen students making USB Switch Testers (new window)).
We also connected with teachers from across Canada, handing out promotional bags of pamphlets, Pen Balls (new window), Palm Pen Holders (new window), and Reading Bars (new window).
As part of the Skills Canada Mechanical Engineering CAD competition, national finalists took on two Makers Making Change projects. On the first morning, they worked from our Palm Pen Holder design to create a gaming joystick, and then in the afternoon as part of the reverse engineering challenge, they measured an oversized Rocket Switch (new window) casing and redesigned that in CAD software.
On the final day of the competition, our Director of Innovation Chad Leaman took part in a discussion as part of the Skills Symposium on the topic of accessibility in the trades.
We owe a big thanks to the local volunteers who came out to support our team — Russ, our chapter leader for the Creation Nation Makerspace (new window) chapter in Brandon, Manitoba, and Tom, who was one of our first ever volunteers in Manitoba. Thank you!
This post originally appeared on the Makers Making Change (new window) website.