My Experience  Wentworth Institute of Technology: Accelerate Makerspace

My spring co-op of 2020 kept me on campus at my university, Wentworth Institute of Technology, where I worked as a lab tech assistant at the Accelerate Makerspace. My job was to maintain and operate the various fabrication equipment within the makerspace as well as educate students and faculty on the use of the machines. I also acted as a resource in assisting with the development of many student projects. Most of these projects were senior capstones.
The Accelerate Makerspace is a hot spot for educational seminars and guest speakers. One of my many duties was to assist in the planning, scheduling, and organization for these events and classes held at the makerspace. The makerspace makes use of workstudy students to maintain the facility. I had a responsibility of managing the workstudy students tasks. Working at Accelerate exposed me to many entrepreneurial wisdom, reinforced qualities of leadership and management, and had me constantly engaged in collaboration with projects. With the core staff of Accelerate being few, I had an excellent work experience with my colleagues and I felt I was able to provide substantial contributions to the makerspace along with my co-workers.
Unfortunately the final months of my co-op had the makerspace shut down due to the nationwide pandemic. To circumvent this hurdle, my colleagues and I developed an online platform that simulated the resources provided by the makerspace along with allowing students and mentors to exchange information and knowledge about making and entrepreneurial endeavors.