To be able to make is a powerful, life-altering force for both students and their broader communities.
Studio H, a design/build class at REALM Charter School in Berkeley, California, was founded by Emily Pilloton. A builder of tree forts since childhood who trained in architecture and design, Pilloton moved into teaching because she “knew there were things about architecture and design that could have a deep impact in the classroom.” She shares the knowledge of tools and handicraft she’s honed over the course of her life both within the school and through an after-school and summer program called Girls Garage.
To Pilloton, the act of making is a powerful, life-altering force for both students and their broader communities. She gives participants the confidence to use a wide variety of tools and turn vision into working products: “I want to have 10-year-old girls who walk in fearful and walk out having fused metal.” But she also knows that her work can change the community around her. In 2013, when Studio H middle-school students told her that REALM needed a library, she and her colleagues had them design and build it themselves, starting with unique X-shaped shelving units that formed the basis of a successful Kickstarter campaign—which raised enough money for building materials, books, periodicals, and digital subscriptions. Pilloton says these types of maker projects are the beginning of “changing who gets to make the world.”
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Makers, The Fastener Museum
