LCCC’s Ludden Library receives grant to create mini-makerspace

CHEYENNE, WYO. — Next year, the Ludden Library & Learning Commons at Laramie County Community College will have an impressive new offering: a state-of-the-art makerspace.

Opening in early 2021, the Golden Eagle Wyrkshop's purpose is to empower students, employees, and the local community to utilize active learning and expertise to achieve their educational and lifelong learning goals.

Ludden Library’s new makerspace will be part of a larger network of makerspaces launched across Wyoming to provide all corners of the state with access to incredible emergent technologies and exciting educational workshops. The $35,000 makerspace at LCCC will be one of six across the state, thanks to a $175,000 Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Division of Vocational Rehabilitation fund received by makerspace partners at the University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Innovation Wyrkshop. The bulk of that funding will provide equipment and staffing necessary for the project.

According to Elizabeth Dill, associate dean of the Ludden Library, the library's DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Initiative helps achieve the college’s vision of providing accessible innovative spaces, resources, and support so that all students succeed.

The space will be accessible and open to students, faculty, and the community. However, the key objective of the makerspace is to provide students with disabilities the skills to mastery machinery, lead instructional classes, host tours, and engage with visitors in a social, informal, creative setting.

Dill shared that these student makers will learn marketable and practical skills, demonstrate independence and autonomy, develop maker literacy, as well as build entrepreneurial and creative confidence.  

"We've seen an outpouring of support at both LCCC and UW," Dill said. "The goodwill and empathy in our community are strong. I am proud and enthusiastic to explore new ideas and opportunities for Cheyenne's students with disabilities." 

To learn more about the Innovation Wyrkshop network, visit www.wyrkshop.org.