Robotics & Makerspace
The Waring Industrial Park, or WIP for short, is a makerspace on Waring’s campus. The space is full of 3D printers, computers with CAD software, woodworking tools, sewing machines, and much, much more. It’s a space for exploration, collaboration, and creativity.
A SPACE FOR EXPLORATION, COLLABORATION, AND CREATIVITY
Student-Led Workshops
The WIP Student Committee, which meets every few weeks and initiates a range of student-led programming during Focus/Flex and lunch periods, recently organized the following workshops:
- A workshop on transforming plastic bags into tote bags for the Sustainability Group
- A 3D modeling and 3D printing workshop
- A workshop on creating with LittleBits
- A workshop on the Cricut machine
- A workshop on building in Lego Digital designer
- A workshop on building hand-planes out of wood
- A speaker making workshop
STEM COURSE
Group 1 is taking a half year STEM class this year; half the students during the first semester, half during the second semester. The course focuses on technology based, small team, experiential learning. Their major project is designing and building a balloon powered car. The students are designing the cars in Fusion 360, a CAD software program, and then printing the parts on the school’s 3D printers. The students are learning CAD skills, design skills, and group-work skills. They are learning how to break a project down into steps on their own, decide who is going to build what parts, make sure all the parts fit with each other, print the parts, and then actually build the cars.
THE BRICKWOLVES
Learn more about Waring’s world-leading FIRST LEGO League team. The student-made video tells the story of the Brickwolves, from their “Into Orbit” state tournament win in 2018 to their 680-point, world-leading “City Shaper” robot in 2020. This video contains the team’s favorite and most memorable moments as well as their biggest and coolest breakthroughs in both the project and robot game.
Francis Schaeffer
Robotics Coordinator
Francis is Waring’s STEM Coordinator and a physics teacher in the Science Department. He holds a BS degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. Francis loves physics and seeks to instill in his students a passionate interest in what physics is about and how the world works at a fundamental level. He believes that seeing the world through the lens of science can improve our lives. Francis can often be found spending weekend hours running on Waring’s extensive trail network or in the Forum building projects and making demonstrations. Francis is a Waring graduate (Class of 1992) and has worked at Waring since 1997.
