MSHS holds openhouse for ‘Makerspace Lab’

MARQUETTE — The community was invited out to Marquette Senior High School tonight to explore one of the newest additions to the school, the Makerspace, and get an update on its newest project.

The Makerspace lab has recently been the home base for a new project for the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow national contest. MSHS won the contest on a state level and is now competing with schools across the country for a spot in the top ten, which will send students and faculty to New York City to present their project.

Their project explores the option of utilizing solar energy in the area by putting eighteen solar panels on the roof above the Makerspace so the lab will operate only on solar energy. In addition, the students will be collecting data and using it to analyze the prospects of wide-spread solar energy in the U.P.

“They love it. We’ve done some real hands on, real world things,” said MSHS Science Teacher, Becky Simmons. “We’ve done fields trips, we’ve talked to law makers, business leaders around the town. So over the last two weeks, they’ve had a ton of real world experience and they’ve all said it’s been wonderful.”

“I think it’s great because powering ourselves, and not being reliant on someone else to provide us power is going to be very cool,” said MSHS Junior, Eli Pickard. “Also, the whole system with having all the data analysis because the Tesla battery is super efficient is really great.”

The panels carry a hefty price tag of around $19,000 and they’ve already started fundraising so they can hit that goal. If you’re interested in helping out the project, click here.