More than 35 projects from 2022 Kickbox recipients and MakerHub consultants will be on display in Moseley Center for Maker Takeover on Wednesday, April 27, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Elon University takes a multi-faceted approach to education. Encouraging students to pursue their interests and cultivating a natural sense of curiosity are central to Elon’s educational philosophy. That’s why, for many students, the Maker Hub’s Kickbox program plays such a key role in their experience on campus.
Elon’s Kickbox program challenges students to actively create the products and inventions that they wish someone else would. It provides them with the opportunity to find real-world applications for their niche interests while promoting critical thinking, resilience, and problem-solving skills. At the Maker Takeover event on April 27, the Kickbox recipients for 2022 will present their ideas, enabling the Elon community to witness their creativity firsthand.
For example, take Maia Tice ’22. A mathematics major with a teaching licensure and computer science minor, Tice has been a board game enthusiast since childhood. “I’ve always enjoyed board games and would play them with my family all the time,” she says.
She’s putting this passion into practice with her Kickbox project, a board game that she has tentatively named “Travel Time.” It combines strategy with economics and competition, like a hybrid of Settlers of Catan, Monopoly, and Risk. Players can trade and purchase goods, claim territory, and more.
Another student, Ben Trainum ’24, is building an 8-bit computer with simple “plug and play” components and integrated circuits that don’t require soldering. Trainum is an engineering major, and his natural sense of curiosity is what led him to participate in this year’s Kickbox challenge. While he is fully aware that he’s not “inventing” anything new, Trainum sees a tremendous amount of potential for his project as an educational tool or a way to encourage interest in computer engineering.
“My goal with this project was to take your normal, everyday computer, dumb it down, and then scale it back up,” Trainum says. “Computers nowadays, in a single flat rectangle, do a hundred times more than what it used to take entire rooms to do.”
Trainum is referencing the early days of computer engineering when the physical components that made up a computer were much larger than they are now. His goal with this project is to demystify the inner workings of computers to make them more easily understandable to people who might be intimidated by the complexity of modern devices.
Members of the Elon community will get their chance to witness these students and several others present their projects firsthand at the Maker Takeover. Attendees will also get the chance to try their hand at “Maker Escape,” the Maker Hub’s first-ever escape room, enjoy ice cream made with liquid nitrogen by Elon Dining, support Elon’s entrepreneurs by browsing the items for sale at the pop-up Marketplace under the Oaks, make some DIY crafts, and more.
These events will be held in Moseley Center from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27.
Learn more about this year’s Kickbox recipients:
Wyatt Allen
Smart Coffee Table
Major: Engineering
Sponsor: Scott Wolter, Associate Professor of Engineering
Winnie Carlton
Sustainable Hair Care
Major: Biology
Sponsor: Kelly Harer, Assistant Director of Sustainability for Education and Outreach
Lauren Hill
Dorm-style Composter
Major: Engineering
Sponsors: Sirena Hargrove-Leak, Associate Professor of Engineering and Bethany Brinkman, Associate Professor of Engineering
Tiffany Huang
Asian Pacific Islander (API) Flag Board
Major: Communication Design
Sponsor: Kiah Glenn, Assistant Director of the Center for Race, Ethnicity, & Diversity Education
Hannah Roaten
Cat Treadmill
Major: Dance Science
Sponsor: J.P. Mullican, Technical Director and Instructor in the Department of Performing Arts
Ben Trainum
8-Bit Breadboard Computer
Major: Engineering
Sponsor: Joel Hollingsworth, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science
Kyra Wells
Apocalypse Gear
Major: Environmental Studies
Sponsor: Ryan Rasmussen, Assistant Professor of Art
Alexandra Nemfakos
Keyboard to Control Lighting
Major: Theatrical Design and Technology and Anthropology
Sponsor: Greg Thorn, Technical Director, Cultural and Special Programs
Rane Parr, Mary Hermes, and Sidney Lowe
Cup Adapter
Major(s): Engineering
Sponsor: Sirena Hargrove-Leak, Associate Professor of Engineering
Haydn Stucker
Injection Molder for 3D Printer Scraps
Major: Engineering and Computer Science
Sponsor: Scott Wolter, Associate Professor of Engineering
Maia Tice
Travel Time Board Game
Major: Mathematics with Teaching Licensure
Sponsor: Joel Hollingsworth, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science
Anna Altmann
Programmable Robot Cat
Major: Chemistry and Computer Science
Sponsor: Joel Hollingsworth, Senior Lecturer in Computer Science