Harrison Bay Future Ready Center
9-12
A VW eLab with state-of-the-art digital fabrication laboratory at Harrison Bay Future Ready Center to give students hands-on access to advanced maker technology and applied STEM learning. Equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters and engravers, vinyl cutters, robotics kits, and microcomputers. The Harrison Bay Future Ready Center has student innovators reshaping design ideas and exploring ways to actively create those ideas in the classroom/lab.
Lab description
Grade Levels:
VW eLab Specialist
Jennifer Miles Clay
Mrs. Clay is a seasoned engineering design teacher with 27 years of love poured into the next generation. She began her journey in 1999 teaching CAD at Cleveland State Community College and began teaching high school in 2004. SkillsUSA Advisor and Coordinator at the State and National level: Technical Drafting/Architectural Design. The first VW eLab I worked in was East Hamilton High in 2019.
Impact
At Harrison Bay Future Ready, the VW eLab gives students a chance to try their hand at running a small business. Through a vendor-client model, students create products for business partners, connecting their design and fabrication skills with real customer needs.
Students produce T-shirts, awards, keychains, and other branded items, learning that creating for a client means understanding someone else’s vision and turning it into a finished product. These projects give students opportunities to practice communication, problem-solving, and attention to quality while taking ownership of work that represents both their school and their clients.
A popular freeze-dried candy business offers another way to explore entrepreneurship. Together, these experiences help students see the connections between making a product, serving a customer, and building a business. The VW eLab gives them space to explore their interests and discover how their skills could lead to future careers or ventures of their own.
Project Highlights
Students at Harrison Bay Future Ready use the VW eLab to design and create projects for schools, businesses, and community partners. With Mrs. Clay taking over the lab this year, that work continues to grow. Current and past student-led projects include:
Dinosaur Hatch: Students created 3D-printed pieces for East Brainerd Elementary that were encased in foam clay, allowing younger students to “hatch” the pieces from inside.
New Teacher Awards: Students created awards celebrating new teachers in Hamilton County.
