Students at Owensboro Innovation Academy have been creating 3D printed ornaments to donate to the Foust Elementary School Christmas Store. The Foust Christmas Store is a school-based store where students can earn “Foust dollars” by completing various tasks, then use those dollars to purchase gifts for the holidays for their families.
Seniors Isaiah Grace and Cora Alward spearheaded the project. Alward’s home high school is Daviess County and Grace’s is Owensboro.
Grace said that Beth Benjamin, director at Owensboro Innovation high school, approached their school-based enterprise class about making the ornaments. Grace and Alward volunteered and were given the freedom to make the project their own.
“She told us that the students at Foust have been earning those Foust dollars,” Alward said. “For this Christmas, they decided that an option for the students would be to use that currency to buy Christmas ornaments. Mrs. Benjamin just came to us and she was like, ‘I’ll give you guys the full liberty to do whatever you want.’ We just searched for different ideas that we could do and we came up with a few designs.”
The made four different ornaments. Two were made with 3D printers — a red circle with the words Merry Christmas, and snowflakes. The other two — one of a snowman, and one that reads “Hope” with a mini nativity scene inside the letter “o” — are made of wood and cut out with a laser cutter.
Alward said she’s grateful for the opportunities that come with being a student at OIA.
“I think it’s really cool,” she said. “I go to Daviess County for one class a day, and it’s an elective class. It’s a very different environment here than it is there, mainly because OIA is a project-based learning school. I think it’s really awesome that we’ve had the opportunity to have equipment like this that we have access to.”
Alward said she thinks OIA really helps point students into a career that they want to do.
“When I came OIA, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. After about two years, I realized maybe that’s not for me, maybe I want to go into engineering. So I’ve learned what I love to do here.”
