School City of Hammond, a school district just south of Chicago on the Illinois border, launched its first Maker-Faire to come together and celebrate the skills of students and staff. The theme was to celebrate a season of making to welcome in the holiday and winter season and provide an opportunity for the community to purchase holiday themed student-made crafts. The event provided a unique platform for students to test their entrepreneurial spirits, allowing them to market their creations, manage inventory, and directly engage with the community to sell their holiday-themed custom crafts.
Bringing together students from SCH’s Scott Middle School, Egger’s Middle School, Morton High School, Hammond Central, and SCH Area Career Center generated a great turn out and excitement. Students were eager to show their parents, community, and peers what they made and how they did it. Everything from crotchet and art to science, technology, and drones were displayed at the Faire.
The School City of Hammond Maker Faire shows how a Maker Faire can function as a sustainability tool for school makerspaces, not just a celebration. At 1st Maker Space, sustaining partner makerspaces is a core commitment, and School Maker Faires are one key way that work happens. By helping support Hammond’s first official School Maker Faire, 1st Maker Space helped make makerspace learning visible beyond the classroom. Families and community members engaged directly with student work — from robotics and drone obstacle courses to 3D-printed designs, tower gardens, crochet crafts, and student-run sales tables — gaining a clear picture of what school makerspaces enable. Proceeds from the event were reinvested into the makerspaces, while hands-on workshops invited new participants to try tools and build confidence. In Hammond, the Maker Faire created a feedback loop of visibility, community investment, and continued participation that helps keep school makerspaces active and supported over time.
Projects & Workshops
Science and Technology
The Hammond Robotics team brought out The Beast, their robot that they have designed, made, and compete with in FIRST Robotics. Melina Mata, captain of the Hammond Robotics team, built a remote controlled robotic rover and invited the community to navigate a course marked by tape on her table.
Check out more of the projects that students created!
