Running the 3D Printing Station at the White House
In April 2015, I had the opportunity to run the 3D printing demonstration station at the White House’s “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.” The event, marking the White House’s 10th year of participation, welcomed over 200 young attendees aged 8-12 for a day of learning and hands-on STEM activities.
The 3D Printing Station
Working alongside OSTP staff, I showed kids how a digital design gets turned into a physical object through 3D printing. We walked through the entire process: starting with a design on the computer, sending it to the printer, and watching layer by layer as plastic filament transformed into something you could hold in your hands.
The students were inspired by real-world examples of 3D printing, like the copper rocket engine part NASA printed at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 3D printing is one of many technologies NASA is embracing to help continue the journey to Mars, and showing kids that connection between a desktop printer and space exploration made the technology click for them.
The highlight was printing a working whistle from a roll of plastic filament. The kids got to prove it worked by trying it out themselves. There’s something magical about watching a child realize that the object they’re holding didn’t exist 20 minutes ago, and that they could design and print their own things.
Voted Best of the Day
The 3D printing station faced tough competition from other activity stations, including learning to make origami frogs in honor of Japan’s State visit that week, and taste-testing healthy cupcakes made by the White House Pastry Chefs. But in the end, the 3D printing station was voted by the young participants as one of the best of the day.
STEM at the White House
The day was part of a broader effort to get kids excited about science, technology, engineering, and math. NASA and OSTP ran several of the activity stations in the East Wing. At the NASA station, Astronaut Cady Coleman invited students to think like aeronautical engineers. At the circuit station, kids built custom electronic cards with copper stickers, batteries, and tiny LED lights.
As the First Lady remarked at the event, “if you want to be President, if you want to be the First Lady of the United States, you have the ability if you work hard and get your education.” Getting kids of all backgrounds into the workplace, meeting inspiring role models, and participating in hands-on activities helps empower young minds to see science and technology as something they can actually do.
There’s a difference between telling kids that 3D printing is cool and letting them watch a whistle materialize out of thin air. Hands-on learning sticks in a way that lectures don’t. These kids got to see that the same technology NASA uses to build rocket parts is accessible enough that they could use it too.
This was one of the more rewarding things I did during my time as a Presidential Innovation Fellow. The work at the National Archives applying deep learning to historical documents was important and impactful. But watching a room full of kids get genuinely excited about technology, and voting your station as their favorite, that’s a different kind of impact.
Coverage:
Related: Presidential Innovation Fellow at the National Archives • Bo-Bot and Sunny-Bot