Avahleen Quinn

Technical Skills that Excite I have had the pleasure of creating an entire makerspace curriculum, where none had existed before. I taught myself how to use the die cutters, 3D printers, and embroidery machines. As I developed the sequence of projects I learned that the real end game of a makerspace is to foster self-guided learners who create their own artifacts, which led me to include an element of creative exploration in our work. As a result, we now have 20 projects in 2D and 3D design, students are creating original projects and this technical learning is available to every student who comes into this program. Relationships Engage Learning Inspired to build positive relationships and create an environment that makes it safe for students to take risks. I led an effort to leverage the micro-challenges that we face in the classroom as opportunities to cultivate resilience and self-awareness, by normalizing failure and reiteration. We use mindfulness techniques, a community of shared struggle and self-care to promote brain regulation during difficult projects. These efforts have had a big impact on student engagement and eliminated the student “rage quit”. Community Partnerships that Provide Opportunity Passionate for developing community relationships that are mutually beneficial and create new opportunities for our youth and our organization. I’ve created a partnership with OMSI that provides customer service job training for our students and special consideration for summer job opportunities in the museum. We’ve also partnered with Multnomah County Library to promote digital literacy by developing and presenting free mobile makerspace workshops that our students support and sometimes even lead.