BY HILLARY VIDERS
SPECIAL TO NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
CRESSKILL, N.J.—At the Cresskill Public Library’s annual Makers Day on March 22 and 23, children of all ages put their huge array of talents to work.
Every room in the library was filled with kids who mastered snap circuits, controlled robots, conducted science experiments, created art projects and more.
Makers Day is a statewide event that celebrates and promotes maker culture as well as the values associated with STEM-based learning. This year, kids gathered at hundreds of locations across New Jersey to show homemade crafts, mechanical creations and scientific experiments.
At the Cresskill Library, there was a plethora of experiences for visitors.
Chiquita Barnes, a leader of the Englewood Girl Scouts, assisted pre-teenagers in a coding project in which they made bracelets with their names coded on colored beads.
There was also 3D printing, squishy circuits, lace making, virtual reality glasses, activity-based engineering and Ozobots (tiny robots programmed to follow black, red, green, and blue ink paths that control its movement and speed in different directions).
In another area, Jaedon Cho, a senior at Cresskill High School, taught youngsters about high tech robotics. Jaedon and his team won top honors in the national FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition. He sat on the floor surrounded by a group of fascinated 6- to 10-year-olds as he commanded a large robot with multiple wires to move in different directions.
Nearby, seventh-grade tech whiz Akshay Nair, who built an award-winning robot named Meccano last year, assisted younger children with littleBits electronic building blocks.
“Makers Day is very important,” Nair said, “because kids that are into STEM-based programs and projects now will have great jobs in the future.”
The parents and instructors were as enthused about Makers Day as the children.
While 11-year-old Justin Cho was busy working on a STEM project, his mother, Daeyon, said proudly, “My son learns a lot about tech here at the library, and on Makers Day he really shows what he knows!”
STEM instructor Hercules Invictus, president of the Friends of the Cresskill Library, assisted youngsters at the Mad Science crayoning and mask making exhibits.
“It warms my heart to see so many people—library staff, board members and volunteers, community leaders, enrichment program partners, the press and library patrons of all ages—having fun exploring and experimenting with the many STEM and STEAM projects spread throughout the library,” he said. “This two-day celebration of NJ Makers Day greatly expanded upon what we’ve offered before and I can’t wait to see what we will be offering in the next one!”
“We are delighted and proud to be a host site and participate in the fifth annual NJ Makers Day,” added Library Director Rita Browning. “It took a year to organize the event, but the results are well worth the efforts. We are always looking for ways to help people learn new skills and try hands-on projects. Most of all, NJ Makers Day is a wonderful opportunity for us to bring the community together to work collaboratively.”