Jenny Howland

I have my dream job, seriously, and it has been 55 years in the making.. Expanding our program to encompass tinkering, constructing, deconstructing and using an extraordinary amount of glue dots and googly eyes might seem a funny place for an English major turned technology teacher. Well, my dad was a tinkerer, a self taught DIY guy who often made, invented, and repaired things in a--er--, a rather Rube Goldbergian way. But he let me “help” and that made all the difference. He was patient as a teacher, never rushed as he let me use drills, jigsaws, screwdrivers, and hammers. There were lovely piles of things in his cellar domain—wood, pipes, springs, jars of connectors, tools of destruction, and lovely poisonous paints and solvents. No safety masks or much thought to ventilation. I could assist him or invent my own project by his side. And that legacy, minus the poisons and lack of safety equipment, is what I hope to bring to our Makery. I want our students to build their own creative confidence by using tools of all kinds including digital ones. I do like to think what my dad would have done with 3d printers and laser cutters. I think our girls will show me.