High school hosts 'mini maker' fair

Ruder Elementary fifth graders got the chance to team up with some their high school counterparts last week as the Columbia Falls High School Library hosted a “mini maker” fair.

It was the first time the school had put on the event, which offered a variety of learning stations, including robot coding, several building stations and even one where Ruder students had to defend a cardboard castle from water balloons hurled from a catapult built by high schoolers.

“We are trying to get them interested in technology and building things and doing hands-on, engaging activities,” first-year high school librarian Alia Hanson said. “It is also great for the high school students because it puts them in a leadership role with some of the younger kids.”

There were high schoolers involved from the maker space design lab class and the Google apps class as well as a number of volunteers from the Key Club.

“It’s taken a lot of planning, but it has been so much fun, for both the fifth graders and the high schoolers,” Hanson said.